February t, 1890.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 551 
of the red beetle are different, the grub, and not th 
beetle, in the case of the red beetle, being the destroyer' 
The red beetle, however, is. so rare here that some 
experienced planters have never seen it, and all agree 
that for practical purposes it is unnecessary to con- 
sider it. 
To section 3, we would suggest an addition. The 
different planters we have consulted are of opinion that 
the District Officer is more likely to learn and see for 
himself, when trees are not attended to, than the 
Direotor of Gardens and Forests, and we would, there 
fore, suggest after the words " Director of Gardens 
and Forests" the words " or the District Officer or such 
other person or persons as the Governor may from time 
to time appoint." 
Section 4 is, in some respects, the most important in 
the proposed Ordinance. Manure and rubbish heaps 
are, no doubt, great beetle breeding places, and, there- 
fore, it ia necessary to deal with them: but inasmuch 
as manure is required for agricultural purposes, and 
other favourite breeding mateiia; ijx other trades, the 
matter must be dealt with in such a manner as not to 
injure or interfere unnecessarily with agricultural or 
other interests. We, therefore, recommend that while 
the public generally shall not be allowed to keep on 
their premises any matter likely to harbour or become 
breeding places for beetles, those engaged in under- 
takings requiring the use of manure or other mat- 
ter in which beetles are likely to breed, ' shall be 
allowed to keep it on tiieir premises, provided they 
take every precaution for preventing the breeding 
of beetles. The best plan for carrying this out 
effectively appears to us to be the granting of 
licenses. Every one whose calling requires the use of 
material likely to harbour beetles, should obtain a license 
for keeping such material on his 23remises. Any one 
keeping such material without a license should at once 
be prosecuted. Those obtaining licenses and not ful- 
filling the conditions on which they are granted should, 
of course, also be liable to prosecution. From the 
information we have received, such precautions present 
no difficulty. In the case of manure and rubbish 
heaps, a little care and attention, the frequent turn' 
iog over of the heaps to a depth of a couple of feet 
or so, and the destruction of all the larvse found 
therein, are all the precautions that are necessary. 
But there is another impoitant matter. Since the in- 
troduction of Indian cattle here, which require straw 
for fodder, beetles have increased enormously, and 
some planters are of opinion that the stacking of paddy 
straw is the chief cause of this increase. The beetles 
breed at the bottom of the stacks close to and in the 
ground. To prevent this all that appears to be neces- 
sary is to stack the straw on trestles about a foot 
or so from the ground. We would, therefore, suggest, 
instead of section 4, two sections to the following 
effect : — 
"If any person keeps on his premises, except under 
the conditions hereinafter contained, dead coconut trees 
or stumps or coconut timber, rubbish heaps or other 
accumulations of dung, vegetable refuse or other 
matter which would be likely to harbour or become 
breeding places for the said beetles, and neglects or 
refuses to remove and destroy the same when required 
so to do by the Director of Gardens and Forests, or 
the District Officer or such other person or persons as 
the Governor may from time to time appoint, he shall 
be liable to a fine not exceeding $25, and the said 
Director or District Officer or persoR appointed by the 
Governor, ma; cause such trees, stumps, timber, rub- 
bish heaps or other accumulations to be removed or 
destroyed and may recover the cost of such removal or 
destruction from the|defaulter in the Court of liequests." 
"Persons engaged in planting or gardening or in 
other trades or callings requiring the use of cattle 
manure, vegetable refuse, straw or other matter in 
which beetles are likely to breed, shall apply to the 
officer who shall be appointed by the Governor for the 
purpose, for a license to keep such cattle manure 
vegetable refuse, straw or other matter on their pre- 
mises and, on obtaining a license, shall take such means 
for preventing the breeding of beetles in the cattle 
manure, vegetable refuse straw or other matter as the 
officer appointed by the Governor shall in writing from 
time to time direct, and any person holding a license 
who refuses or neglects to carry out such measures 
within a reasonable time shall be liable to all penalties 
under the preceding section as though no license had 
been obtained by him." 
It will be noticed that, in the first of the two sections 
we suggest to take the place of section 4, we add the 
words suggested as an addition to section 3, namely, 
"or the District Officer or such other person or perilous 
as the Governor may from time to time appoint " ; 
and as we consider it most important that the District 
Officer as well as the Officers of the Gardens and Forest 
Department should have every facility for enforcing 
the regulations and preventing the breeding of beetles, 
we would recommend an addition to section 5 — which 
would become section 6 — giving them simi'ar powers, 
and a further addition authorising both Officers of the 
Gardens and Forest Department and District Officers 
to inspect stables, cow-houses, &c. even when not near 
a coconut plantation. This would render a large 
portion of the section unnecessary. In fact we would 
suggest that it be altered to read as follows : — 
"All Officers of the Gardens and Forest Department 
and the District Offioers and their assistants and 
such other persons as the Governor mo.y appoint for 
the purpose shall have access at all reasonable times 
into and upon all lands, stables, cow-houses, sugar 
factories, rice mills, tanneries, or other places within 
the Colony wherein beetles are likely to breed, for the 
purpose of discovering whether there are thereon any 
such things as in the last two preceeding sections are 
referred to." 
The reason why we suggest such a comprehensive 
section is this. We are told that the beetles fly miles 
away from the places where they breed to the coco- 
nut plantations, that the stables both id towns and 
in the suburbs are the sources whence myriads of the 
beetles come, and that, without these being super- 
vised, the pest cannot be so effectively dealt with as is 
desirable. 
With the modifications and additions that we have 
suggested, we believe section 6 to be unnecessary. 
Trees would only be destroyed when utterly valueless, 
and there oan be no question of compensation for an 
utterly valueless and, moreover, dangerous thing. In 
oases where the owner of a dead coconut tree may be 
in needy circumstances, the most that he can fairly 
look to the Government to do is to cut down and burn 
or bury the tree without charging him with the ex- 
penses incurred. — We have, &c, 
J. M. B, Vebmont. 
J. Y. Kennedy. 
♦ 
THE COCONUT TREES BILL. 
(From the Straits Times, Jan. 11th.) 
The report on the Coconut Trees Bill published in 
our issue of yestesday contains several valuable sug- 
gestions derived no doubt from discussions with the 
principle coconut planters in Province Wellesley. The 
chief of these suggestions are that dead trees, whether 
diseased are not, shall be cut down and buried, and 
that the district officers shall be made inspectors under 
the Act. It is also proposed that persons whose busi- 
ness requires them to store quantities of manure or 
other deoaying matter shall require to obtain a license 
for doing so, and that they Bhall be bound so to keep 
that matter as to render it less liable than at present 
to be a breeding place for coconnt beetles. So far we are 
entirely with Mr. Vermont and Mr. Kennedy in their 
conclusions, but there is one point on which we are 
compelled to differ from them. While recognising the 
merits of their valuable report, we are sorry that 
they avoid any discussion on the habits of the red 
beetle, upon the plea that the existence of that beetle 
is so very rare that it need not be taken into account. 
Now, as a matter of fact, in the island of Singapore 
at all events, the red beetle is by no means so very 
rare as Pennng planters seem to imply, but on the 
contrary it may be frequently seen in coconut plan- 
tations. Still it is to be admitted that it is far less 
numerous that the black beetle, but on the other 
hand it is very muoh more dangerous. It seems that the 
