786 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[May 1, 1901. 
day, and I myself have picked off as many as half-a- 
dozen from a coffee tree (so this proves how numerous 
they are) just after the first heavy rains in November 
and it is alarming to think of the amount of damage 
done if no steps are taken to check this pest. 
AFTER THE BEETLES HAVE DfSAPPKARED, 
signs of their presence hegin to show by a change of 
colour in the foliage of a few plants where each beetle (if 
a female) has iDeen caught, the leaves of the planis turn ; 
ing from a deep green to a light yellow. The se^rcher3 
must continue their good work, but now armed with a 
foot length of fine wire, and a knife, going regularly over 
the estate as before (the boys must be visited daily, 
watched, and carefully instructed at their worker they 
will do as much damage as the borer by cutting the 
trees &o.) It will he found on examination of the trees 
attacked that the grub, at least for one or two months, 
does not enter the wood of the plant, but works at the 
bark sheltering itself from any natural enemies by a 
covering of refuse fibre made from the bark and ring- 
ing the tree, working first one way, and then another, 
feeding on the inner bark till a complete circle is made ; 
it is then the signs of an attacked tree become visible , 
the flow of sap being completely cut off. At this 
stage many grub can be cp„ught, and when the 
trees are furred up, they often recover, I make it a 
rule however to put in a supply beside all doubtful 
plants. Many grub 
ESCAPE DETECTION 
at this time, but by keeping thesearchers at work going 
over the estate, and again later on, when the borer 
manages to enter the wood, the sawdust appears and a 
wire must be pushed into its hole to kill it. It can be 
seen that it is squashed by rubbing the point 
of the wire across the back of the hand, when 
mucilage* matter will be found on the wire, if it is 
killed. The grub is sometimes difficult to get at as it 
sometimes makes a crooked tunnel, in which case 
the tree has to be cut to get at it It is frequently 
found that a borer goes down the stem, after entering 
the wood, into the ground; in this case it is difficult 
to get at,' and the tree is usually destroyed by the 
roots blackening and dying right away, whereas when 
attacked above the ground there is every chance of 
-recovery, if taken itf time. 
Borer enters the chrysalis stage about the end of 
July or early in August, but an odd one is to be found 
later than this. So that you are practically at work 
about seven months at torer beetles and grub, from 
Becember to June, both months inclusive. Any extra 
care and attention by planters to this most im- 
portant of all works on coffee estates in B.O.A. will 
repay them. In addition to 
REGULAR SEARCHERS FOR BORER 
it is not a bad plan to give a little salt or other trifling 
reward to the ordinary workers, weeders for instance, 
daring the season for any beetles they miy secure m 
their line of work ; but care must be taken that they 
don't leave their work to go ofi in search of them. 
The borer beetle is well known on a coffee estate 
by the name "Nyanza," or horned beetle, and the 
larva as budzi. . r .i ^ , 
I was informed, when m India, that when 
•offee trees get old and hard-wooded they are 
impervious to the attack of borer grub. This 
may be the case there ; but I am quite certain 
that eight-years-old coffee if neglected is attacked with 
the insect here; but I think the older the coiiee trees 
become the less likely they are to succumb to an 
attack of borer, and I am quite sure on a badly at- 
tacked estate that three or four years old coffee suffers 
Most, especially in a very dry year. This may be partly 
due to heavy cropping at this age. 
Of course, diseased leaves are partly caused by 
borer ; as the lateral roots die off, the primary roots 
tti^n black and diseased, and as the root surface dimi- 
nishes the foliage and branches lack in nourishment ; 
and as a natural consequence, through loss- of health 
and vigour, the tree with its frait becomes diseased, 
if it does not all together perish.— Youra truly, 
H, B. 
RUBBER IN MEXICO : 
INDIAN MODE OF PREPARIMG RUBBER FROM 
"CASTILLOA ELASTICA." 
Mexico, 12th March 1901. 
Dear Sir, — The following method of pre- 
paring rubber by the Mexican Indians, which 
was quite new to lue, may he of interest to 
you and your readers;— "On taking over 
charge of this (Hacienda) last August, I 
found scattered through the coffee fields some 
25 or .30 rubber trees {castiVrtn ehmtira) of 
different ages and sizes and all much the 
worse for barbarous tapping in years past. 
Some Indians asked me if tliey might tap 
the trees on shares, and considering them of 
no value I allowed them to do so. They 
proceeded leisurely to work and in a few days 
brought me to the house three old kerosine 
oil cans of rubber milk and an armful of a 
jungle creeper called by them ' Amole bejuco' 
but \\ hicli I have since iiad identified at Kew 
as YporiKca (colonijcJion) Boiiaiio.L' L They 
asked for an old soap-box and proceeded to 
pound the creeper with a sto'ne, putting about 
double handfulsof the crushed creepers into 
five gallons water, they tben jionred some 
five gallons rubber milk into tbe box and 
two gallons or so of the water, stirred it for 
a moment or two and in less than lu minutes 
took from the box a slab of wliite rubber 
34 by 16 by 6 inches, poured away the v.'ater 
left and proceeded as before until they had 
four large slabs of rubber. These they split 
in two and hung in the sun, and in a day 
or two it turned black. The nett result of 
rubber was 53 lb, which sold in Vera Cruz 
for 95 cents (say two shillings) per lb, or 
$50'35. Had I employed my own peons 
to do the work at 622 cents per day, the cost 
of producing tlie rubber would have been 
about $6 '25 silver. In a regular rubber 
plantation of course it wou'd have cost a 
little less, as these trees were scattered about. 
—Yours truly, E. O. DARLEY. 
TEA FOR THE MILLIOJNS IN INDIA AND 
UEYLON : A PACKET COMPANY 
WANTED. 
Dear Sir, — I was glad to hear that the I. T. A. had, 
at la-it, begun to tt.ke action in trying to secure a local 
market for their teas, but are they going the righ. way 
about it ? They seem to be still under the impression 
that the natives will only buy the cbeip lovv-grade 
teap. This is a great mistake. When tiying to sell tea 
to the natives some years ago, I found th a neh natives 
and even fairly well-to-do traders always preferred to 
buy the very best tea though at the time Orange Pekoa 
was R2 per lb., while the Muhammadans wanted green 
tea. The natives are all tond of tea and the poorest 
of them spend more in arrack, bhang or other stima- 
lants than they need ever spend in tea; but to win 
this market it is necessary to pack thf leas in very 
small packets, a 4 oz. packet is the big gest that would 
sell well, one and two ounce packris would have a 
far better chance. 
Planters could not be expected to make up these 
tiny packets at the factory. Tliey have enough trouble 
with larger packages; what is wanted is to start a Com- 
pany who would buy their teas in the open maiket 
and put it up in small packets and distribute them 
by means of Cummission Agents in every native 
bazaar. The Company would need liberal support 
from the I. T. A. for the fir.st year or tv^o, after which 
