Plant Sanitation. 1( 



the newly-hatched out bugs as would 

 have been the case in seasonable weather, 

 and if the bushes had been thinned 

 of some of their branches and useless 

 twigs. 



It was particularly noticeable on one 

 of the gardens in the district where 

 some replanting had been done with 

 high-class tea that the young plants 

 were practically untouched by the 

 mosquito, although the block was right 

 in the centre of the block with the 

 blight, and to all appearances closed for 

 the season. 



There seemed to be no reason why 

 these young plants should not have been 

 attacked, even to a small degree, as the 

 mosquitoes must have been starving on 

 the surrounding tea, but the fact that the 

 replanted area (10 to 15 acres ?) was not 

 attacked helps to confirm what has been 

 written in the above paragraph, namely, 

 that the bushes on the replanted area, 

 although showing plenty of foliage and 

 offering food for apparently starving in- 

 sects, had—first, no unnecessary wood 

 about them, and second, no cluster of 

 closely growing stems near to the ground 

 like the surrounding poorer jat tea, thus 

 allowing the passage of light and air 

 through their whole system of brauhces. 

 No immature mosquito can live on a 

 bush under these circumstances, as 

 wind and heavy rain alone would des- 

 troy them. 



This is in support of the suggestion 

 that those gardens subject to attack by 

 Mosquito blight, should, in the first 

 instance, do special careful " thinning 

 out" at the pruning season in order that 

 the severer storms of wind and rain may 

 kill off the greater number of young 

 freshly-hatched-out mosquitoes and en- 

 able spraying with Kerosine Emulsion 

 and the catching of the insects by coolies 

 to be carried out more effectively. 



The Use of Kerosine Emulsion. 



This brings me to the matter of spray- 

 ing with Kerosine Emulsion. Up to tlie 

 present no better remedy than this, to- 

 gether with the collecting of the insect 

 by hand, has been found," and it is my 

 opinion that it will be along time before 

 a better remedy will be discovered ; but 

 at the same time I do not think spray- 

 ing with Kerosine Emulsion has, on any 

 garden, been carried out in a thorough 

 and proper manner. Also I am perfect- 

 ly sure that there are many gardens 

 which have spent thousands of rupees 

 every year in spraying with Kerosine 

 Emulsion without realising any appreci- 

 able benefit from the process. When 

 the habits of the tea mosquito, as given 



I [February, 1909. 



below, are taken into consideration, I 

 think this will be brought home to many, 

 and the following may be of use in the 

 future treatment of the pest. 



The general custom of insects, on 

 being disturbed, is to retire to places of 

 safety, and this is particularly the case 

 with the tea mosquito. Where the mos- 

 quito occurs, so long as the bushes are 

 not thoroughly cleaned out at the time 

 of pruning, the difficulty of eradicating 

 it will be realised. In spraying, no soon- 

 er does the spray touch the bush than 

 the insects either fall to the ground or 

 retire into the heart of the bush, where, 

 according to the way in which spraying 

 has been done in the past, the insecti- 

 cide does not reach all of them. Every- 

 thing, therefore, depends upon the 

 manner in which spraying is conducted, 

 and, provided that a thorough cleaning- 

 out of the bushes has been carried out 

 in pruning, the emulsion will be able to 

 reach every part of the bush if applied 

 as now suggested. It is not sufficient to 

 only spray the top and sides of a bush, 

 it must be thoroughly saturated with 

 the solution — the leaves, both upper 

 and lower sides, the stems, the sod and 

 "Jabra"at the foot; and the nozzle of 

 the sprayer should be placed right in- 

 side the bush, the spray being directed 

 upwards. The bushes cannot be too 

 much saturated. It is so important 

 that the upper side of the leaves should 

 be sprayed upon more than a very little, 

 because each leaf acting as a drain, the 

 liquid runs off one on to the next below, 

 and so on till it reaches the ground 

 round the outside ot the bush. This is 

 almost an entire waste of material, as 

 the insects have by this time left the 

 surface of the bush and will be found in 

 the centre of it or at the collar in the 

 "Jabra"atthe foot. The young flush 

 must, of course, receive the spray, and 

 that thoroughly. 



when to spray the bushes. 



Better results will be obtained if the 

 spraying is conducted during the heat 

 of the day, when the insects, both im- 

 mature and adult, are protecting them- 

 selves from the sun, inside the bushes, 

 and it goes without saying, of course, 

 that the freer a garden is of jungle at the 

 collar of the bushes the better will be 

 the effects of spraying. 



To thoroughly saturate the bushes and 

 the " Jabra " at the foot of them with 

 the mixture, in the manner above sug- 

 gested, the cost of spraying per acre will 

 become rather more expensive than for- 

 merly, but this can partly be remedied 

 by adding more water to the mixture, 



