880 



The Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist 



if 18 months was not too long a time for the 

 definite ascertainment of the character of the 

 fungus and its mode of propagation, it does 

 seem too long a time for allowing the disease 

 to be combated only by ardent readers of the 

 Tropical Agriculturist. — Yours truly, 



F. B. 



P.S.— After concluding the above, I looked up 

 Mr. Petch's article in the Agricultural Magazine 

 for December, 1906— an article which had 

 escaped my attention — and find that the disease 

 " was first brought to the notice of the Depart- 

 ment in 1903 ; but no information was left on 

 record.'' His own attention was called to it 

 " last year,'' 1905 through the Observer. " In 

 the early part of this year (1906) informa- 

 tion to the same effect reached Pera- 

 deniya from several sources.'' The particular 

 locality was visited, presumably in May, 

 19C6. " Inoculations from pure cultures 

 were made in October, 1907, and proved success- 

 ful in January, 1908." So that it took 4 to 5 

 years before the Department ascertained defi- 

 nitely the name and nature of the fungus. 

 I say the Department, because we have not 

 to do with individuals who are directly responsi- 

 ble to the Government. That period must strike 

 the uninstructed public as rather too long for 

 a definite investigation ; and even the Govern- 

 ment may admit that it goes beyond the pace 

 which it recognises as usual unofficial circum- 

 locution. But the treatment was prescribed in 

 1906. That is clear, but no one reading the 

 article, and its reference to " the fungus 

 which is supposed to be the cause 

 of the disease," and to the inoculations 

 then made at Peradeniya, to the doubt 

 "whether the infection has been successful," 

 would understand that a final decision had been 

 arrived at as to treatment. Whether so, or not, 

 neither the public, as distinguished from the 

 Agricultural Society, nor the Government was 

 warnad of the seriousness of the trouble. — P. B. 



THE COCONUT PALM AND ITS ENE- 

 HSSES: A NEW BEETLE PEST IN 

 THE SOUTH SEAS. 



We are much indebted to an old Ceylon 

 planter and friend— Mr. Frederick Wernham 

 — now of the staff of "Lever's Pacific Plan- 

 tations, Limited,' for his very useful and inform- 

 ing letter on a new beetle pest which is 

 giving trouble on some of the Pacific islands. 

 So far, we may take it — on the high authority 

 of Mr. E. E. Green (who is at present in 

 Europe on furlough)— that it has not been 

 seen in Ceylon ? But it behoves all of our 

 intelligent coconut cultivators to be on the alert 

 and to notify shou'd anything correspondii.g 

 to Mr. Wernham's description, come under 

 their notice. 



Sydney, March 17th. 

 Dear Sir, — An insect pest to coconuts has 

 been brought to my knowledge of late. Mr E E 

 Green, Ceylon's Government Entomologist, to 

 whom I wrote some time ago, on the subject, 

 and sent specimens, told me that the insect is 

 not known in the Indian region. I write now, 

 as by bringing the pest to the notice of your 

 many readers in other parts of the tropics where 



the coconut tree nourishes, it may be, some 

 may have knowledge of it and will inform us 

 what steps are taken to rid the coconut trees of 

 the insect. 



The pest in question is a small beetle the 

 Brontispa Frogatti one of the hispid variety, 

 which, 1 believe, was first sent from New Britain 

 to Mr Frogatt, the N.S.W. Government Ento- 

 mologist and identified by him. The beetle 

 measures about 7-16 of an inch in length, is 

 narrow and flat. It has a black body and red 

 head. It makes an entry into the bud of the 

 coconut tree, more particularly when the trees 

 are young, and breeds inside the fold of the 

 fronds of the unopened leaf. Its young is a 

 small white grub. They feed on the fronds, 

 which, when the leaf opens, show brown patches 

 on them, or if the beetle is in any number the 

 whole leaf may be withered and in wet weather 

 gets soft and pulpy. So soon, or soon after the 

 bud bursts, the insects recede downwards and 

 take up their home in the following bud and if 

 no means are taken to eradicate the pest, each 

 succeeding leaf is more severely damaged and 

 the plant quickly assumes a withered and 

 stunted appearance. Unless carefully watched 

 the pest may get a big hold on an estate, before 

 it is very noticeable, as the insect breeds very 

 rapidly. 



It has been traced and would seem to come 

 originally from different palms in the jungle, 

 more particularly the Areca palm, but to these 

 the beetle never seems to do nearly so much 

 damage as to the coconut tree. This is probably 

 due to the centre bud of tho former being very 

 much harder and coarser than the bud of the 

 coconut tree. The insect breeds all the year 

 round, more rapidly perhaps during the wet 

 season and maj be found in all different stages 

 of development in the same plant. 



Different means to eradicate the pest have 

 been tried, but so far, that which has proved 

 the most successful is a spray made of a mix- 

 ture of Sunlight soap and tobacco and applied 

 by means of a bottle with cork and quill in it, 

 like a bitters bottle. Some plantors have got 

 very good results from periodically dusting a 

 handful of fine dry ashes into the centre of the 

 tree, but it seems to me that, to be successful 

 with this, requires a dry climate, or rather that 

 ashes give the best results in dry weather. It 

 has been remarked that the beetle is not found 

 in plants, in which small red ants are plentiful 

 and that some times it is covered with small 

 parasites. Whether these have any harmful 

 effect on the beetles, is not yet known. — Yours 

 faithfully, 



FRED WERNHAM. 



' SALT FOR COCONUT PALMS. 



March 27th. 

 Dear Sir, — Did not Mr. Petch at his recent 

 meeting with the Locountry P. A. state that, 

 in the Philippines, the Americans had de- 

 monstrated that " salt was deleteriot.s rather 

 than beneficial to coconut palms ? Now are 

 there not experienced planters in Ceylon, who 

 have also tried the experiment with a different 

 result ?— Yours, 



COCO-PALM. 

 [The late Mr. R. Davidson was a very ex- 



