124 
THE TKOPICAL AGRlCULTXTRiST. 
[Aug. 1, 1903. 
• — ♦ — 
To the Editor. 
UOUONUT PALMS AND THEIR 
ENEMIES. 
Qailiraane, 2n(i May, 1903. 
Dear Sir,— 1 have read many times, in 
your Tropical Agriculturist, that "beetles" 
are doing much ravage in the plantations of 
coconuts in the Straits Settlements. 
Will you be kind enough to tell me which 
kind of insect they are, if cryptogamic 
or of the " oryctes family" and can you 
give me a little description '! I am forming a 
large plantation of coconut trees here and 
I am a little afraid of the enemy. — fours 
truly, J. C. STUCKY. 
[Mr. Stucky must provide himself with a 
copy of our Coconut Planters' Manual — new 
edition ready shortly— in which he will find 
the information required. Two beetles do 
harm in the Straits, just as they often do 
on neglected plantations or native gardens 
in Ceylon, The one is the black elephant 
or rhinoceros beetle, " Orydes r hinoceros ;" 
the other is " Rhynchopliorus ferrugincus," or 
beetle. -Ed. tJ,] 
MU. JAS. SINCLAIR ON THE SHOT- 
HOLE BORER. 
London, May 19. 
Dear Sib,— I regret to see that n» steps are 
apparently contemplated by the Planters' Associa- 
tion, to cope with what, in my opinion, will prove 
the most serious pest which has so fur appeared 
on the tea bush, viz., " Shot-hole borer," unless 
some drastic measures are taicen for stamping it out 
of the tea fields it is slowly but surely sapping. 
If I am not wrongly informed, it lives and thrives 
in all conditions of atmosphere or cultivation and 
is, therefore, unlike any of the other enemies 
the tea bush, most of which disappear, at all 
events for a period, until probably conditions 
suitable for their life return. 
The unconcern by those present at the Dimbula 
Association meeting, at which the subject was men- 
tioned, reminds me of the scorn which we in Dim- 
bula over thirty years ago, treated the learning 
of the late Dr. Thwaites that leaf-disease would 
sweep through the new districts as »vell as the 
old and that young tea on virgin soil would have 
no immunity from ,its lavages. Those •f us who 
are alive now, will have rather painful recollections 
of how soon those predictions were realised in Dim- 
bula, as well as on their youngest coffee on the 
bests soils. It is because of these painful re- 
collections, that I would urge planters to com- 
bine for the early extermination of what must 
prove a worse enemy than what tea has been 
suffering from for so long now, viz., low prices. 
From all I can learn, although it is very insidious 
in its operations, tliese are so slow that stamping 
it out will be comparatively easy, but not cheaply 
affected. Once the borer is inside the stem of the 
bush, that bush— it not all others in the same 
tield, or surrounding ones— must be cut to the 
ground and burnt. This will, of course, entail 
serious loss to an estate where it has prevailed 
for years— as whole fields, if not the whole estate, 
should be eut dowu aud all branches biirued 
and probably the soil afterwards turned over. 
It would take three years at all events fer 
the stumps to grow a new bush aud the 
question immediately arises : What planters un- 
aided could afford to weed aud piune and supervise 
an estate till the lapse of that period unless 
help were forthcoming ? The question almost 
suggests its answer. The Ceylon Tea enterprise 
must pay for it and Government, which is as much 
interested as planters themselves in preventin? 
a repetition of the disaster to coffee, should come 
forward with a helping hand. We have but to 
recall the steps taken by Aberdeenshire farmers 
to rid the county of rinderpest and other 
epidemics which were continually recurring, fo:: 
an example of what can be done by combination. 
The local authorities obtained power to slaughter 
whole herds whenever an outbreak took place, and, 
from the rates paid by farmers, the proprietor 
of the lierd received, I think, two-thirds of the 
value. Individual great hardships were borne 
willingly for the general good. Only the value 
for the butcher is paid, I believe, and often very 
high-class herds with long pedigrees for breeding 
purposes worth five or six times tiieir value 
as butcher's meat were slaughtered. I would not 
propose that any such hardship should be ia- 
tiicted upon the planter. 1 think his felloMf- 
planters and Government should contribute yearly 
for three years, the yearly nett loss to the estate 
so deprived of its bashes, the former 2-3rds and 
Government one-third. It would be hopeless to 
look for combination or unanimity amongst 
planters; therefore Government must have a hand 
in it— first, to enforce action oa the pest stricken 
estate, and secondly to collect the wherewithal 
from, say the Tea Cess, to compensate for areas 
devastated by order of the etiicials appointed for 
this purpose. Planters aie somehow very sensi- 
tive over Governnuent interference, but as the 
official appointed to see the Committee's in- 
structions carried out must be a planter, aud the 
Committee for decision as to the necessity for 
devastation should be selected from the planting 
community in each District, there coahl be no 
room for friction. 
A short Ordinai;ce would, of course, be necessary 
to obtain all the necessary powers, and to amend 
the Tea Cess Ordinance enabling an infinitesimal 
cess for the purpose ©f compensation when neces- 
sary. I had almost omitted to say that even were 
but 2-3rds of the probable nett profit pro- 
vided, no great hardship would accrue to the 
estate as, I think, planters will agree that the 
renewed bush would be a better one than the 
original and thus make up for the slight loss. I 
may mention also that the bye-laws made, by the 
local authorities of Aberdeenshire are now era- 
bodied in the statutes of Great Britain and have 
become the law of the land with the result that 
epidemics amongst cattle or swine are very rare 
and when they do appear, they are stamped out 
speedily and they rarelj, if ever spread. 
JAMES SINCLAIR. 
MUSEUM OF ETHNOLOGY, NATUEAL 
HISTORY AND COMMERCE OF THE 
PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 
Manila, P. I., June 15, 1903. 
Dear Sir, — The Commercial Museum v^as 
C;stablial>ed, as you will see by the inclosed leaflet, 
for the purpose of promoting the commence of the 
