May i, 1888.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 
733 
9. The imago, or p ^rfect insect. 
a. Description of both the mule and the female. 
b. General habits. 
c. Localites frequented. 
d. Pood. 
e. Date when copulation takes place. 
/. Period of the yo.ir during which imagos are 
found. 
(j. Date and method of oviposition. 
/(. Measures ttkuu to destroy the imago. 
i. Natural enemies, diseases, and parasites. 
10. Alternation of generation, dimorphism, par- 
thenogenesis, and any other points connected with 
the natural history of the species. 
11. Other measures actually adopted for prevention 
or cure : iheir cost and effect. 
12. Insecticides, especially such as contain kerosine 
or compounds of arsenic. 
13. The history of damage done in former years, 
with supposed causes of immunity from attack at 
0110 time and undue multiplication of the post at 
ano ther. 
14. The introduction of tho pest, the supposed 
date of its occurrence, and tho way it was introduced. 
15. Tho spreud of the pest : its direction and 
pace. 
1U. Tho elfoct of varying soil, moisture, temper- 
ature, and other natural conditions on the pest. 
Special attention should be directed to the positions 
selected for oviposition, pupating, and hybematiug, 
the state (whether as egg, larva, pupa, or imago) 
in which the insect hybemates, the r.umber of 
generations in the year, and the food plants other 
than the crop aotually attacked, as on these pre- 
ventive measures can frequently be based. In- 
dividual obseivatiou will of course often be confined 
to single points in the life history of each pest, 
but it these are jotted down and forwarded as 
they present themselves, they will frequently be of 
value as filling up what would otherwise he gaps 
in the history of the pest. The complete history 
may take same time to record, but when once the 
main facts are known about each pest it wil be easy 
to specify the exact information wanted to complete 
the record. 
Kich pi at should be dealt with entirely separately, 
ami observations should in all cases be accompanied 
with specimens' illustrating, as far as possible, the 
pest and its method of attack. Specimens of the 
pest its. If .should lie .sunt, where po-siblo, in all 
stagos of development aud in considerable numbers : 
eggs, caterpillars, and other soft-bodied insects in 
strong alcohol or spirits of wine ; chrysalids or cocoons 
alive aud packed lightly iu leaves or grass ; other 
insects dried and pinned or wrapped iu soft paper, 
hive insects are always preferable to dead ones, aud 
should iu all cases be sent where there seems to be 
a reasonable probability of their surviving the journey. 
Specimens of leaves and green plants damagtd by 
the pest may bo sent wrapped in damp cloth ; grain, 
wood, and such like being puckod as occasions sug- 
gest. Observations on economic insects should be 
written clearly on one side only of the paper, and 
sunt with the specimens to Mr. li. 0. Cotes, Indian 
Musi iiin, Calcutta ; they will be gratefully reoeived, 
U all cases acknowledged, and, so far as possible, 
any information about them will be given, or suught 
for from expert 1 in Europe ami America. 
♦ 
1UCE ODLTURB IN JAPAN. 
Tho prospects of rico culture in Japan have form 
ed the subject ot some interesting articles iu the 
Fiji Skimpo. The ealiei.t feature of this branch of 
iigrirulturu lias been, for some yearn, a falling market. 
Omitting the eulj quotations of 13Sf>. since tlmy 
were abnormally influenced by the K< rean compli- 
cation, wo tind that tu« pricis per koku iu the first 
month of tho put throe years, inoindiug thepreteul, 
were 5*44 JWWj 4"12 vii. and H»8 urn, retprclivoly. 
Tin re hns, in lac', been a steady deobne, and lur- 
liiers are natuialh very noxious to know wlo-thcr 
such a state pi a'loirs is to bo anticipated iu the 
futuro also. The total annual yield of rice in Japan, 
on the average, has usually been put at thirty million 
koku, representing, at 5 yon per ko/cu, a value of 150 
million yen. A trifling lailure iu the harvest, such as 
would reduce the yield to 27 million koku, for example, 
may thus mean a loss of fifteen million yen to the agri- 
cultural class. On the other hand, a small risu iu price, 
as fifty gen per koku, would nearly make up for this 
shortage of yield. There is no difficulty in seeing how 
largely the commercial condition of the country de- 
peuds upon a crop so important, constituting, as it does, 
the staple production and source of wealth of six-teuths 
of the population. Appearances at present seem to 
portend a further fall of price. Some are disposed to 
hope that a remedy will be supplied by the develop- 
ment of sericulture : rice-fields, they say, will be con- 
verted into mulberry gardens, and prices will be driven 
up by the consequent reduction of supply. ^Nothing 
warranting this view has come to the knowledge of 
the Fiji Shimpq, If the area devoted to mulberry 
cultivation has iucreased — as it certainly has— the in- 
crease appears to have been effected by reclaiming 
waste lands or encroaching upon tea-gardens rather 
than by converting rice fields. Statistics do not sup- 
port the idea that the latter operation is in process, 
for whereas the area of wet rice-fields was 4,850,000 
acres in 1877 ; it was 5,850,000 acres it 1885 ; 
an increase of a million acres in eight years. 
Such figures as these, if quite trustworthy, are 
very conclusive. Tea planting, on the other baud, is 
said to have gradually diminished during the past four 
or live years, in consequence of the greater profits 
olfered by sericulture. On the whole the conclusion 
may be formulated that, up to the present, what 
sericulture has gained is not at the expense of rice- 
growing. Taking the average yield of rice to be 5 
koku, or 25A bushels (approximately), per acre, it ap- 
pears that the total production of rice in Japan has 
been iucreased by five million koku since 18/7- An 
addition of sixteen or soventeen per cent, to the sup- 
ply of the staple could scarcely fail to effect its value. 
Something must of course be allowed for increase of 
population and something also for the more extended 
use of the cereal, but it is very doubtful whether 
these sources of demand could absorb the extra sup- 
ply, especially in view of the fact that other agricul- 
tural products have also been more largely cultivated. 
Consider the following table : — 
Production of Cereals other titan Rice. 
1878. 1884. Increase 
koku. koku. koku. 
Barley 9,411,460 13,105,841 3,694.381 
Beans 1,142,185 3,823,435 081,250 
Maize 85,501 100,775 25,274 
Millot 2,475,87G 2,899,037 42o,7'il 
Buckwheat 575,054 673,241 08,187 
KWAMMK. KWAMMK. KWAMMK. 
Sweet Potatoes ... 223,417,388 3C2.u.sti,n2.s i3.>,tiC.!»,nu 
Potatoes 8,033,5,ss 10,715,902 2,082,818 
This record shows that agriculture has flourished 
amazingly under the Mediatized Government. Ar- 
ticles of food have been produced in rapidly increas- 
ing abundance with the natural result that prices 
have fallen. Helping materially to depress the rice 
market we have a marked decline in the manufac- 
ture of sake during tin' past eight years. A dif- 
ference of three million koku of rice is attributed to 
this cause. Thus, on the whole, it may be said 
that the nation is now asked to consume 8 million 
Koku more rice, 5 million koku more barley mid other 
cereals, and 141 million ktra.nmr mom potatoes tlmn 
in 1878 — or, in English measures, an addition of 6tt| 
million bushels of cereals, and half a million t ins 
of potatoes. Turning now to thu question of soruub 
turo, we find that the total area of mulberry ti Ida ill 
1881 was ",7">,25<i acres, with n yield of 3HJ million 
bushels of cocoons. The area of laud similarly employ- 
ed iu 1H87 hns not yet b'en determined, but wo know 
that the yield of cue. 10ns was about ul million bullie s, 
10 it may bo inferred that thu total extent of mul- 
berry gardens Wu8g5jOOQ acres, approximately. Tho 
development of sericulture hns therefore Ueu much 
