662 
Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist." [Mabch 1, lBy9. 
every year, tind it, therefore, belio-ves ye to te 
■«ell eqiiij'i'td to mett an enoerf^t ncy, 'Witli tlie 
object ot afcceii iiining tlie lutef-t metliod.s of 
al locking locu.-ts ni.d uf leiirning eornctliing ubout 
the ri'i^iilts of using tlie "locui-l fungnf-,"' we 
apjirouclied Mr. Loiiusbury, who has been kind 
enough to furnish the following reply to the 
letter we addressed to him: — 
I regret that no recent leports on the locust 
queetiou have been issued by this Government, 
nor, indeed, have any been issued in the past 
■which could be of service to you. We have no 
regular system of destruction but leave the 
farmers to light the plague the best they can. 
Scattered through the pages of the Agricultural 
Journal for some years past are " suggestions and 
recommendations," but with few exceptions these 
are reprints of the descripiions of ways and means 
found to be ot value elsewhere in the world. We 
have no legislation on the locust question at all, 
although "compulsory destruction" has been 
urged for several years and is now being agitated 
for by the tlorticultural Board of the Eastern 
Province. The Government keeps a f-mall vote 
for locust expenses on the estimates, and has paid 
a few bills tor screens and for the collection of 
eggs, but only luider special circumstances. Lately 
the only aid has been in the direction of spreading 
a fungus disease among the swarms. Tlie fungus 
{Hmjmsa (/ryliiYies.?) is cultivated at the Bac- 
teriological liisLilute at Grahamstown, and one or 
two officers are employed in travelling about to 
inoculate ; cultures are also sold at a nominal 
price with directions for use. The Natal Govern- 
ment i- also cultivating and distributing the fungus 
It is quite impossible to get definite informution 
on the value of the disease-dissemination, and 
though unquestionably it does some good and 
probiibly a great deal it is quite improbable that 
anything like eradication of the pest is possible 
by this means. The disease spreads with rapidity 
and certainty only under certain conditions of 
moisture. 1 should have stated before this that 
we have two migratory locusts ; one, the wide- 
spread Pachytylus migratorius, and the other the 
jicridium purjpurifermn, a locurt closely allied to 
the A. peregrinvm of Northern Africa (and India). 
The former is almost confined to the Xarroo — our 
dry and treeless interior; while the latter keeps 
pretty well to tha eastern coast districts, — doing 
considerable damage to tree vegetation. Both 
species reach us from the almost wholly unexplored 
regions about the Kalahari Desert and other 
northern territories, and, probably owing to our 
prolonged slate of drought, both have been able 
to breed in the Colony. The work with the 
fungus has almost wholly been restricted to 
A. purpuriferum- On the Karroo the more 
progressive of the farmers have their herdsmen 
report the presence of young locusts immediately 
©n their appearance. AH hands, if necessary, are 
then taken to the place at night and the swarm 
destroyed by sprays or by beating with bushes or 
spades ; larger swarms necessitate driving into 
furrows, but the Karroo swarms now are usually 
small. Along the coast some use is made of 
arsenieally jjoisoned bran or sugar cane. In 
explanation of the seeming indifference of the 
Governnaent, I need only mention that the ter- 
ritorial area of the Colony vt immense and the 
population scant, thus making operationii of avail 
and within the limits of economy in more thickly 
settled hinds entirely out of the question with us. 
Only a smull part of the country ravaged is under 
cultivation. 
As your country is a populous one, 1 think you 
would find the reports of the locuet work io 
Cyprus of considerable advantage. These are 
issued yearly, and I presume you could obtain 
them from the Colonial Office. I attach the 
printers' murk. You might al«o find something of 
interest in Dr. C V. Riley's bulletin on American 
Locusts : I think it is No. ^2fi of the Divison of 
Entomology, U.S. Department of Agriculture. 
Regretting that nothing hae been published here 
that would be of use to you. 
LOCUST FUNGUS FOR CEYLON. 
We are glad to announce that we have received 
the following advice note from Dr. Edington, the 
Director of the Bacteriological Institute, Gra- 
hamstown, Cape Colony : " I beg to inform you 
that I have sent to your address six tubes of the 
abovenamed fungus, with instructions for its use. 
I shall be greatly obliged if you will be so good a<i 
to let me know the results you obtain from it. 
It has been very successful here, and we are at 
the present moment destroying immense swarms 
of the insects." 
OCCASIONAL NOTES. 
The first meeting of the Agricultural Com- 
mission met on February the 4th, when all the 
members were present. After some discussion as 
to the nature and functions of an Agricultural 
De])iirtment, and the prospective advantages t^ 
the country of organising such a department, it 
was decided to ask Mr. J. C. Willis, Director of the 
Royal Botanic Gardens, to draft a scheme to meet 
the requirements of the Island Mr. Willis readily 
undertook the duty, and the Honorary 
Secretary was requested to print and circulate 
Mr. Willis's scheme before calling the next 
meeting. 
Mr. J. B. Cull has resigned his appointment as 
Director of Public Instruction, and is succeeded by 
Mr. S. M. Burrows, m.a., of the Ceylon Civil 
Service. Mr. Burrows, who is on leave, will not 
assume duties for some months to come, and in the 
meantime Mr. Harward, the Principal of the Royal 
College, will continue to perform the duties of 
Director, which he has done for the post five 
months with much acceptance 
A small consignment of 10 Sind cows arrived 
for the Government Dairy on January 14th. One 
animal unfortunately succumbed to injuries 
received by a fall on board ship. Another con- 
signment of 20 cows and 2 bulls is expected early 
in March. 
A sale of cattle drafted from the dairy herd 
was held on the 18th Jmuary. The net proceeds 
of the sale were R853-35 from 19 cows and 1 bull; 
