and Magazine of flu- (Jei/lon Agrirultiiral Society. 



T HUM LIS GESTROI." 



In the whole of the past history of tropical 

 agriculture in tea, coffee, cocoa, cinchona and 

 spices, there have been four causes for dis- 

 appointment and an awakening from the golden 

 dreams with which various enterprises were 

 originally commenced : — 



1. Substitutes. 2. Synthetic production at 

 a low cost. 3. Over-production. 1. Pests 

 and Blights. 



The first three are boyond the control of 

 the individual ; and if any reliance is to be 

 placed on expert opinion, tho rubber planter 

 in the East has nothing to fear from them 

 in his comparatively new venture, but the 

 fourth, i.e., Pests and Plights, comes well within 

 his scope and it is his duty to leave nothing 

 to chanco and do everything within his power 

 to assure the success of the enterprise. 



So far we have one blight and one pest which 

 may be considered as serious, i.e., Forties semi- 

 tostus and Termes gestroi. 



Fomes semitostus is a blight which, if taken 

 in hand at once and treated according to the 

 advice of the Government mycologist, Mr. W 

 .) Gallagher, will, I am sure, bo easily overcome 

 as We have successfully dealt with the same 

 class of blight in tea, coffee, etc., by drainage 

 and application of lime, 

 i Termes gestroi, however, is 



A VERY SERIOUS PEST 



and it was in recognition of this fact 

 that, in my various endeavours to extermi- 

 nate it, 1 collected a largo number of queen 

 termites ; these I showed to Messrs. Carru- 

 thers and Pratt, who were much interested, 

 as the queens evidently belonged to two or 

 more species and it was quite possible the 

 Queen gestroi, which had hitherto never been 

 found, was amongst the collection. This re- 

 sulted in the investigation by Mr. Pratt and 

 I have been fortunate in being in possession 

 of the valuable discoveries made by him, for 

 a considerable time before they were published. 

 Previous to Mr, Pratt's discoveries with re- 

 gard to the habits of T. gestroi I was much 

 afraid that the pest would prove to be a heavy 

 handicap to the Malay Peninsula in its com 

 petition with other rubber-producing coun- 

 tries in the future and a serious though un- 

 seen and therefore unrecognised loss, in the 

 present. I am now quite satisfied, however, 

 that it can be altogether eradicated. In -my 

 endeavours to exterminate tho pest as expe- 

 ditiously and as cheaply as possible I have 

 arrived at some conclusions and methods which 

 may be of use to my brother planters. The 

 following notes refer to flat alluvial land: — .... 



Methods of Extermination. 

 On Old Rubber, Trees.— It has to be deter- 

 mined whether T. gestroi establish their termi- 

 tai-ia in the rubber trees themselves and on 

 this point I have no data. If it should prove 

 to be the case, fortunate is he who discovers 

 an insecticide, or other means, by which the 

 Queen cells may be reached, at a low cost and 

 without destroying the tree, and thereby obtain 

 the reward now being offered. On the other 

 hand, our success in exterminating the pest 



depends upon the skill with which tho ciins 

 are traced up to their base. If all timber is 

 collected and destroyed, I feel convinced that 

 if the attack does not entirely cease it will 

 be very much diminished. 



On Young Rubber Estates. — I have found 

 it cheapest and best to make a systematic search 

 field by field and line by line for all timber 

 which is known to be favoured by T. Oestroi, cut 

 them open with an axe or cross-cut saw and if 

 they contain the slightest trace of the enemy, 

 destroy them by burning. 



The danger of scorching the surrounding plants 

 may be entirely done away with, or at least greatly 

 minimised, by burning in a trench keeping tho 

 lire covered with green stuff, and shielding the 

 surrounding trees with sheets of corrugated iron. 



Theso should not lean against the rubber troes 

 but be supported by sticks a short distance from 

 them ; even if two or three rubber trees are de- 

 stroyed by fire in this way, the damago done is 

 more than compensated for., by the fact that one 

 T gestroi termitarium is 



CAPABLE of DESTROYING A SCORE 01; 

 MORE OK TREES 



to a distance of two or three hundred foot. 



Where there is a sale for timber or charcoal, 

 sound Meranti trees may be sawn up with ad- 

 vantage and Kumpas can be converted into first 

 class charcoal. 



A close watch should always bo kept on land 

 that has been cleared of timber, and if a tree is 

 seen to be attacked, every endeavour should be 

 made to discover the source of infection, which 

 will invariably be found to be a buried root or 

 stump, from which the termites make their way 

 in search of food by means of tunnels. These 

 may be found at a depth of 0" to 3' below the 

 surface of the ground. In flat land, I have never 

 found them below the sub-soil water level, which 

 of course is regulated by the efficiency of the 

 drainage system. 



Theso tunnels are, as a rule (as Mr. Pratt nays), 

 sufhciontly large to admit the introduction of 

 an ordinary microscope slido though some- 

 timos smaller, they are perfectly smooth and 

 are lined, with a red substance, probably tho 

 excreta, of the termites which takes its colour 

 from the timber on which they have been feeding. 

 This colouring greatly facilitates the following- 

 up of the tunnels ; but it is by no means an 

 easy matter until the coolies become practised 

 at it and see for themselves that they are doing- 

 real good and not merely following out some 

 mad scheme of their masters. When the direc- 

 tion of a tunnel is lost, it is very difficult to 

 pick it up again. I have found the surest 

 means, of not losing it, is to use a piece of 

 thin flexible wire or strip of cane as a probe. 

 Pass it into the tunnel as far as it will go, 

 remove the top soil carefully with a chunkol, 

 then break open the run to the end of the 

 probe. Pass the probe in again and proceed 

 as before until the termitarium is reached. 

 To find the tunnel or to pick it up again should 

 it be lost, I have found it a good plan to cut 

 a trench round the tree attacked or the spot 

 where the run was lost. This trench should be to 



