578 



The Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist 



tilled only with 11 sensitive plants and the leaves 

 of some unknown weed " ! And Colonel Wyllie 

 pathetically asks : — " Has anything unkinder 

 yet been said of rubber growing in Burma ? 

 After 30 years of its cultivation on a vast scale 

 the Agricultural Entomologist of the Province 

 calls Para Rubber "an unknown weed.' 1 

 Destruction of Rubber Trees by White 



Ants in the F.M.S. 

 Colonel Wyllie has just come from the F.M.S. 

 where he has been seeing some of the oldest 

 planted rubber in that country. Ho takes a very 

 grave view of the ravages of white ants there, and 

 was much surprised at the extent of the damage 

 done by them. The alarming feature of this 

 pest, according to the Colonel, ia that it generally 

 confines its attention to the matured trees. 

 The ants work entirely from below getting 

 into tho tap root and working up the trunk. 

 In Rangoon, whore the white ant also carries 

 on its depredations, it works on the outside, 

 building up mounds round the foot of the 

 tree. There it is at once seen and by digging 

 them up and putting in ashes and other 

 material the tree is saved. In tho F. M.S. it 

 is entirely different. It is almost impossible 

 to tell when white ants are at work on a 

 tree until the damage is done and the 

 tree collapses. It was a sad sight to see in 

 the vicinity of Taiping magnificent trees, 

 some as many as twenty years old, absol- 

 utely destroyed in this maimer. Lieut. - 

 Colonel Wyllie did not wish to generalise by 

 his own brief observations, but it appeared to 

 him that unless some effective means of eradi- 

 cating the pest was discovered the F.M.S. 

 would always have young rubber as a large 

 percentage if the old trees were constantly 

 being destroyed by Termes Gestroi. The 

 planters and the scientific officers in the F.M.S, 

 are doing all they can under the circumstances. 

 In other respects the industry was flourishing. 

 Visiting the Rubber Exhibition at Para. 

 Lieut.-Col. Wyllie's interest in rubber is not 

 confined to the plantation product alone. 

 Those who know his book, " Notes on Rubber 

 Cultivation with special reference to Portuguese 

 India,'' written in collaboration with Mr. O. G. 

 Ferreira, M.R.A.S., one of the earliest books 

 published when interest in rubber was red hot 

 —will have realised how extensive his study and 

 investigation in the matter have been. Col. 

 . Wyllie is not content, however, with his existing 

 knowledge and at the present moment he is hur- 

 rying home en route to the Rubber Exhibition to 

 be opened at Para on the 22nd June next, where 

 he will see all there is to be seen and gather at 

 first hand as much information as possible upon 

 wild rubber generally. The boat by which he is 

 to sail, according to his programme, will reach 

 Para three days beforo the Exhibition opens. 

 Colonel Wyllie's impressions and full accounts 

 of the information he will glean first hand will be 

 published and will be reproduced in our columns. 

 The letters of this well-known authority will be 

 invaluable to the Plantation Industry as throw- 

 ing light upon the real position and prospects of 

 their remote Western competitor. 



A Visit to San Thome. 

 After finishing at Para Colonel Wyllie sails 

 for Madeira whence he visits Sau Thom<5 



island, which has recently acquired so 

 unenviable a reputation on account of its 

 alleged "slave grown' 1 cocoa. Lieut. Colonel 

 Wyllie is already familiar with the Portuguese 

 island and has placed the British cocoa indus- 

 try under an obligation by translating from the 

 Portuguese of Senhor Monteiro de Mendonga 

 "The BoaEntrada Plantation," S. Thome, with 

 an introduction and notes of his own. This 

 book was reviewed at considerable length in 

 the Tropical Agriculturist some two years ago. 

 A new book on the island and the cocoa indus- 

 try there has just been issued by a Portu- 

 guese writer. Oolouel Wyllie received an early 

 complimentary copy and so struck has he 

 been with its contents that he has arranged to 

 stay in Lisbon on his way home and obtain permis- 

 sion to translate tho volume into English. In 

 the event of this permission being given— and it 

 is not likely to bo refused— the Colonel goes to 

 San Thome to investigate the conditions for 

 himself and he will embody his own observa- 

 tions, experiences, and views in the translated 

 volume. San Thome is such an immense produ- 

 cer of cocoa that the book cannot fail to be of 

 very e,reat interest to all interested in the 

 industry. 



RUBBER-T APPING I N BORNEO. 



Tenom Experimental Gardens. 

 A shipment of 106 lb. of rubber realised from 

 the Tenorn Experimental Gardens, sold at 3s 8d 

 per lb. This was obtained during the first tap- 

 ping. No further tapping has been done since and 

 Mr Lease writes that the trees have been given 

 a good rest but tapping will be resumed shortly. 

 —B.N.B. Herald, May 1. 



INSECT P ESTS O F CACAO. 



A pamphlet by Mr. H A Ballou, M.bc, Ento- 

 mologist on staff of the Imperial Department of 

 Agriculture for the West Indies, has just been 

 issued by tho Commissioner of Agriculture, Mr. 

 Francis Watts, to whom we are indebted for a 

 copy. The cacao thrips and the cacao beetle, 

 the insect pests chiefly found in cacao orchards, 

 are carefully described and the necessa r y reme- 

 dial measures clearly set forth. There are also 

 several kinds of scale insects, mealy bugs, &c, 

 that are often found in cacao orchards, which 

 may at times be in suftioiently large numbers to 

 require careful treatment. These are briefly 

 mentioned, and the remedies that are recom- 

 mended for each are clearly stated. Stress is 

 laid on several occasions throughout this leaflet 

 on the need for careful cultural methods to be 

 adopted in cacao cultivation. The manuiial 

 experiment plots, and 'sample' plots that have 

 been maintained for several years at Grenada, 

 St. Lucia, and Dominica having clearly demon- 

 strated the good results that are likely to accrue 

 from careful cultivation. It has further frequen- 

 tly been noted in Grenada that where a high 

 standard of cultivation is maintained, attacks of 

 thrips and other insects are much less frquent, 

 and little serious harm is occasioned. An interns- 

 ting account for the measures to be adopted in 

 combating the cacao beetle forms an appendix 

 to the body of the pamphlet. This is taken from 

 an address by Mr. R. D. Anstead Agricultural 

 Superintendent at Grenada, 



