March 1, 1901.] THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTUEIST. 
591 
THE ERADICATION OF LANTANA 
SCANDENS. 
A good deal has already appeared on this subject 
in the pages of the Indian Forester. The question 
has, however, been re-opened recently by the Inspector- 
General of Forests, and the conclusions arrived 
at during the year may be of interest to our 
readers. 
In May I90D a suggestion veas put forward by the 
Inspector-General to introduce into the country 
some well-chosen natural enemies of the Lantana 
in order to assist in its eradication. 
*' The Lantana scandens invasion of Ooorg," wrote 
Mr, Ribbentrop, " has become a scourge to the 
country, and is spreading rapidly in other parts of 
Southern India. 
" Originally, I have heard, introduced by the wife 
of a missionary as a hedge plant, it has taken rapid 
possession of open places in the forests, occupies 
grazing grounds, and tnreatens cultivation by spread- 
ing over every fallow area, even at a distance from 
the original stock, the seed being probably carried 
by birds. 
"The eradication of the plant, when once it has 
taken possession of the ground, is an expensive 
business. It forms perfectly impenetrable thickets 
in which the sun does not reach the ground and 
nothing can grow. The Lantana takes sole possess- 
ion. Once such thickets have formed, it is said in 
Coorg to be more costly to eradicate them than to 
clear virgin forests. The ryots, looking upon the 
invasion as an unconquerable pest, do nothing to 
help themselves and the evil is naturally spreading. 
" la Berar the Forest Department took up the 
eradication of Lantana systematically aud with con- 
siderable success. The IMunicipalities, and lately, I 
hear, the ryots, have followed suit. 
" The first operations were naturally expensive, 
costing, however, but Rs. 4 per acre, against Rs. 30 
estimated by the Commissioner of Coorg, where, 
however, it is to be said, the evil has taken a much 
longer and greater hold of the country. In Berar 
we have not succeeded in eradicating the plant ; but 
at a cost of Rupees 30 — ^50 per square mile, which 
is decreasing year by year, we keep it under suiHcient 
subjugation to render it pactically harmless. A 
pre-considered plan for the work and a careful and 
steady adherence to it are, however, a sine quaiion. 
" Dr, Watt, when in Coorg, was consulted by the 
Commissioner, and he advised that enquiries should 
be made in South America (but Mexico I think it 
is), whence the plant originally came, what its 
enemies were in its own country and to import them. 
This plan was considered fantastic and was not 
acted up to and I think nothing else was done 
either. I am of opinion that a possibility of success 
underlies Dr. Watt's plan, and I would advise that 
in the first instance enquiries in this direction should 
be made from the Kew authorities, who are in touch 
with the botanists of the world. 
"It may be possible, that somebody would have 
to be deputed to the original home of the Lantana 
to study the question locally, but even that would 
be but a small matter iu comparison with the 
object in hand. 
" That it is feasible however, to keep the Lantana 
within reasonable bounds, without introducing its 
enemies into this country, by unremitting attention 
towards its destruction, at a considerable cost it is 
•true — but nothing compared with the estimate of the 
Commissioner of Coorg — has been proved in the 
iEUichpur district in Berar, where the plague assumed 
the most threatening appearance ; and this might be 
pointed out to the Coorg authorities." 
This view of the matter did not, ■ however, re- 
commend itself to Major Prain, the Director of the 
Botanical Survey of India, who wrote as follows : — 
" I am not favourably impressed by the proposal 
to depute an of&oer to America to learn what tlie 
Jiatural enemies of Lantam in its original habitat 
75 
are. There are two well-known enemies of Lantana '. 
both of them, as cures, are worse than the disease. 
" One of its enemies is a Sunflower (Tithonia), 
which is becoming naturalized in many parts of India. 
It is found in Ceylon that where this runs wild it 
kills out and replaces Lantana. So diiJerent is the 
point of view that Ceylon planters look upon Lantana 
as a 'blessing' and think nothing has done so much 
as it has to renovate abandoned coffee land. The 
Sunflower they find, when re-clearing, to be more 
difficult to eradicate than I^antana is, and they be- 
lieve that in place of renovating the soil the Sun- 
flower greatly exhausts it. 
•' The other enemy is fortunately not yet very 
well known in India. This enemy is a scale-bng 
[Ortliezia insignis) originally discovered at Kew, where 
it was causing damage in the plant houses Itwaa 
noticed in Ceylon in 1893 or thereabouts, and was 
supposed to have been introduced from Kew, because 
it was first observed in the Royal Gardens at Pera* 
deniya, to which place plants are often sent frpm 
Kew. But this is not clear to me, because the pest 
is also known, and gives trouble, in Natal. It was 
first noticed on Lantana in June 1898. By August 
1898 it had spread, still on Lantana, with alarming 
rapidity, completely destroying, so it is asserted, 
the patches of Lantana it attacked. 
" 'This Orthezia is one of the most destructive 
scale-bugs known. It by no means confines its 
attention to Lantana, but attacks, and is equally 
destructive to, many other species. When it is 
known that these include Tea ; Coffee, both Arabian 
and Liberian ; Cinchona ; the Orange and all the 
other species of Citrus ; Capsicums ; and the Tomato, 
it will be seen that the alarm with which it suddens 
appearance on Lantana was viewed in Ceylon was a 
well-founded alarm, and it will be granted that the 
Government of Ceylon and the planting community 
there were justified in immediately taking the most 
drastic steps to stamp it out. 
" Among the enemies of I^antana in its natiro 
country this or some similar pest maj' be numbered. 
It may well be that in its natural environment such 
a pest may cause no trouble. But remedies of this 
kind are apt to prove double-edged weapons, because 
there is no possibility of saying that in the new 
environment to which they are brought these will 
not get as completely out of hand as Lantana itself. 
" As regards the methods detailed in the attached 
correspondence for dealing with the plant, I have 
little to say. I note that the cost of clearing land 
of Lantana in Berar is given at Rs. 15-8 per acre. 
This is interesting, because it agrees so well with 
the estimate given for Ceylon during a controversy 
that arose there so far back as 1881. It was foutid 
in Ceylon that land under Lantana for 12 years or 
more, and therefore as thickly covered with the 
shrub as it was possible to be, could be cleared by 
contract, the contractor cutting it down, uprooting 
every plant and burning the roots and stems, for 
Rs. 15 per acre. I find it stated that at present 
the plan used in Ceylon is to uproot the Lantana 
by bullock teams, and that the method is easy and 
effective. Its cost I have not seen noted. 
" In Honolulu, where the experience has been 
exactly that of India and Ceylon, it is usually only 
the small plants that are uprooted. Large plants 
of Lantana have their stems cut across close to the 
ground and kerosine is then poured on the cut 
stumps. This is said effectively to prevent any further 
growth." 
As to the steps taken at Ghikalda in the Berars, 
mention of which is made in Major Prain's letter, 
Mr. Cecil Bagshawe, Conservator of Forests, gives an 
interesting account. 
Lantana (scandens) clearance in the Station of Ghihalda 
and the Meh/hat laluq, Ellichpur District, Berar, 
1894-95 to 1899-1900. 
It seems well to describa the position of the 
Chikalda station aud the ^^Ighat hill, where tbQ 
work was carried out. 
