July, 1910.] 



35 



# 



Plant Sanitation* 



fested trees were also attacked, but a 

 seedling Hevea plant, though blackened 

 by fungus, was free from the pest itself. 

 I have arranged to visit the estate very 

 shortly, and shall then be in a position 

 to give fuller particulars. 



Pest op Landolphia. 



Landolphia Rubber does not appear to 

 be very suitable for plantation cultiva- 

 tion in Ceylon, and little atteutiou has 

 been given to the plant here. But it 

 will be useful to record the occurrence 

 of a (Joccid pest — Tachardia albizzice(one 

 of the lac insects)— upon the young stems 

 of Landolphia Kleinii, in the Royal 

 Botanic Gardens, Peradeniya. 



Caterpillar Pest op Erythroxylon 

 Coca. 



The leaf-rolling; caterpillar of a small 

 Pyralid moth (Rhodophcea heri?igi, Rag.) 

 is giving serious trouble on a Coca clear- 

 ing in the Matale district. The cater- 

 pillars are stripping the bushes and are 

 said to be responsible for the death of 

 many plants. The larva is about three- 

 quarters of an inch in length ; of a dull 

 olive-brown colour, with three narrow 

 darker stripes on each side and a num- 

 ber of minute black spots. It pupates 

 underground and appears as a mottled 

 greyish moth in from ten days to a fort- 

 night. 



1 suggested cutting back the bushes 

 and burning the pruniugs ; but was in- 



formed that this treatment had already 

 been tried, with the result "that all the 

 young shoots appearing aftjr pruning 

 were immediately eaten, and in this way 

 we have lost thousands of plants." The 

 superintendent had sprayed 70 acres 

 with Bordeaux Mixture without check- 

 ing the pest in any way. This is not 

 surprising, as Bordeaux Mixture is a 

 fungicide— not an insecticide. I have 

 now recommended the application of 

 Lead Arsenate or Lead Chromate, The 

 latter insecticide has been found, in 

 India, to be a reliable substitute for 

 Lead Arsenate without many of the 

 disadvantages of the latter. 



This insect is a native of Ceylon and 

 India, and must breed normally upon 

 some wild plant. The discovery of this 

 plant will be of importance in the treat- 

 ment of the pest. 



Turkeys as Insect Destroyers. 

 I have received, from a correspondent, 

 particulars of the value of turkeys as 

 destroyers of caterpillars. My corres- 

 pondent had suffered considerable loss 

 by an invasion of caterpillars (of the 

 Noctuid moth, Prodenia littoralis) in his 

 tobacco-drying sheds, Upon further 

 enquiries, I was informed that he had 

 succeeded in interesting some turkeys in 

 the sport of caterpillar hunting. He 

 writes : — "And now we cannot keep them 

 out of the drying sheds " ; although the 

 caterpillars had been exterminated. 



LIVE STOCK. 



SOUTH AUSTRALIA EGG-LAYING 

 COMPETITION, 1909-10. 



Official Report by D. F. Laurie, 

 Poidtry Expert and Lecturer. 



Poultry Expert's Department, 

 Old Government Offices, 

 King William Street, Adelaide, 

 South Australia, 

 The Hon. Minister of Agriculture. 



Sir,— I have the honor herewith to 

 present my report on the 1909-10 egg- 

 laying competition, held under my super- 

 vision at the Government Poultry 

 Station, Agricultural College, Rose- 

 - worthy. The total number of entries, 

 viz., 113 pens, or a total of 678 birds, con- 

 stitutes a world's record for any one 

 competition. In the 1907-8 competition 

 the local record was established, also a 

 world's record for two pens over 1,500 

 eggs. It is worthy of note that the 

 previous world's record was established 



at Subiaco, in West Australia, by a pen 

 of birds owned and bred in South Aus- 

 tralia. Again in 1907-8, at Gattou com- 

 petition, the world's record, which still 

 stands, 1,538 eggs, was gained by another 

 pen of South Australian bred and owned 

 birds. This year, although the much- 

 hoped-for new record has not been 

 made, it is gratifying to note that the 

 leading pen of White Leghorns has laid 

 1,531 eggs, which is a better perform- 

 ance than the 1,531 eggs laid by the 

 winning pen in the 1907-8 competition, as 

 that year was a leap year of 366 days. 

 This additional record shows that care- 

 ful breeding and selection can give hens 

 averaging over 250 eggs per hen per 

 annum. This has been proved on four 

 occasions by South Australian breeders. 

 I confidently look for a considerable 

 increase in the number of hens of this 

 quality in the future. The oft-repeated 

 contention that high laying and satis- 

 factory conditions can only be obtained 

 from a few specially selected birds is 



