April 1908.] 



335 



Plant Sanitation. 



for the future, but there seems to be 

 no reason why efforts should not now 

 be made to bring; home to the cultivator 

 the facts regarding such simple pests as 

 it is possible for him to cure, and there- 

 by to open his mind to the realisation of 

 the fact that, the knowledge of the 

 pest's life-history is the first essential, 

 and that, given that, it i9 often within 

 his scope to devise some means of cir- 

 cumventing the enemy. The cases enu- 

 merated above are cited as being those 

 in which there exist a simple practical 

 remedy for a particular pest ; if the 

 cultivator can be induced to adopt one 

 of these and so to lessen the damage to 

 his crop in any one case, a great step 

 forward will have been made.— The Agri- 

 cultural Journal of India, Vol. II. 

 Part IV. 



TO DESTROY THE NESTS OF TER- 

 MITES (WHITE ANTS). 



A very useful machine, sold under the 

 name of the ' Universal' Ant Extermin- 

 ator, has been employed in the Royal 

 Botanic Gardens, for the above purposes, 

 with complete success. 



The machine consists of a small char- 

 coal furnace in connection with an air- 

 pump. Some glowing charcoal is placed 

 in the furnace ; a spoonful of the mixture 



(composed of White Arsenic 85 per cent, 

 and Sulphur 15 per cent.) is thrown on 

 to the charcoal and the lid firmly 

 clamped into position. A flexible nozzle 

 is pushed into the main entrance of the 

 nest, and all supplementary holes are 

 plugged with clay. The pump is then 

 worked and drives the vapour into the 

 nests, forcing it into all the ramifications 

 of the galleries. Little jets of smoke 

 will soon arise from crevices and unsus- 

 pected openings for several yards round 

 the main entrance. These should be 

 immediately stopped with clay or 

 pounded earth. After a few minutes of 

 vigorous pumping, the nozzle may be 

 withdrawn and the hole plugged with 

 clay. The nest should remain undis- 

 turbed for a week, when the mound may 

 be levelled . If opened immediately after 

 the application, some of the insects will 

 revive. In some few cases there may be 

 feeble signs of renewed activity, in 

 which case a second application will 

 complete the work of destruction ; but 

 this is seldom necessary. 



The machine is at present obtainable 

 only from the Natal Agents (Messrs. P. 

 Henwood, Son, Soulter & Co., of Durban) 

 and costs in Ceylon (inclusive of trans- 

 port) £4-12-6. 



E. ERNEST GREEN. 



[A Circular, dealing with white ants 

 generally, will shortly appear.— Ed.] 



