Nov. 2, 1&03.] TH^: TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 327 
THE WHITE ANT, 
which is the greatest ttonble of all, as it does damage 
in a wholesale way. Other ants are mere petty 
pilferers so far as a house is coucernpd. though their 
aphis and scale breeding practices do infinite harm 
in gardens and orchards, harm which does not seem 
to be recoguised so far by the owners, but the white 
ant eats np a house or other valuable property, kills 
trees, and sometimes eats a patch of potatoes^ I 
remember a case where they destroyed the shingles 
on the roof of a miner's cottage in 18 month", 
and half the rest of the nlice as well. 
As to exterminating the white ant, I would 
like to give my expirieuce. Some 15 ye%r3 ago 
I bought a we^herboard cottage at Mittagong, 
which I had not pee'i for a couple of months, 
when it was in good conditioB, I went there to see 
Hbont making some ai'ditions, and when lying in bed 
I co 'ld hear a continued raspirg sound, and in the 
moruiiig found th^t the pine lining for 3 ffiet wide and 
20 teet in length, had Ijeen eaten by white ants, a 
mere paperlike shell covered by paint being left. I at 
once got some blue oil, the heavy residual oil from 
iu«k'Dg kerosice, and got a lad with a watering can 
to sprinkle and saturate the ground inside and outside 
the brick foundation. This was not vt^ry pxpensive, 
as the oil was then only worth about 4^d per gallon, 
and some 40 gallons sufficed. There was not a white 
ant in the place in two days, and there has not been 
one for 14 years, and the eaten boards are still un- 
touched. I had observed that the white ant must have 
access to fresh water ; the quantity they require is 
probably very small, but they must have it or they 
die, and blue oil cuts oil the water supply. This ex- 
periment I have repeated in numerous cases, and the 
result has always been similar. Many people have 
used blue oil, but they painted the beams and spoiled 
the floors, doing little good. What is wanted is to 
saturate the foundation soil, and then wood is safe. 
It is probable that a liberal application of common 
salt, the commoner the better, as this contains chlo- 
ride of magnesium, to the soil on which a house is 
built would have the same effect. I observed over 
30 years ago in the islands in the Hunter above 
Newcastle that there were two classes of dead (ling- 
barked) trees— first, those which were eaten by 
white ants, and those which were not. First, trees 
which had grown on ground never flooded by salt 
water, and in which more or less fresh water could 
be found ; second, trees growing on ground which 
WAS occasionally, as at spring tides, flooded by 
salt water, and in these I never found a white ant. 
The way of a victorious general is not found in 
killing a large number of the enemy, but in cutting 
off his supplies of food and ammunition, and provid- 
ing for bis own men, which, by the way, is just what 
the British War Office has not done in the past, 
according to reports. So it is with the gardener and 
orchaidist. Their enemy is the ants, who have no 
eight hours day, no Sundays, no half-holidays or 
whole holidays, who work when work can be done, 
and then rest or die, and there are always more 
than enough to take their places. There is no 
decrease of birth rate in their case. The fruit and 
vegetable growers of New South Wales have a dif- 
ficult row to hoe. They have many difficulties 
to contend against, and ants stand well to the 
front. Another is Loranthns, which is invading 
orchards everywhere, and is also increasing in bush 
trees,— I am, &c., WILL. A. DIXON. 
Mr E T Webb, Bathurst, writes : — " Having read 
the interesting article on the above in your issue 
of the 2nd, I think it might interest your readers to 
know that 
ALL KINDS OF ANTS CA\ BE EASILY EXTER- 
MINATED 
by the use of carbon bisulphide. Pour from one to three 
teaspoonfala down their holes and then set it alight. 
It will not only kill tue ants, but destxoya their 
eggs. A very larga ant bed will taka about -tix. 
ounces, f ut some down every hole before light* 
ing. Care must be taken in the use of the carbon, 
as it is very inflammable. Another method is to mix 
arsenic with sugar, or something sweet, and put it 
where thc-y can get it. After some time they will 
disappear. This I have only tried once, on sugar 
ancs, where I oould not use ihe carbon, and I found 
it answer ; but, in my opinion, there is nothing that 
does the work so quickly or effectively as the carbon." 
THE DELFT HORSE EST.ABLISHMENT. 
CxVUSli OF THE HORSE DISEASE 
DISCOVERED. 
Dr. Wiliey, F.K.S. , returnedj to Colombo 
recently in the ss. " L-idy Hivelock '' from Jafifna, 
where he has been inspectinfjj the Horse Estab- 
lishment ab Delft and Iranntivu in connection 
with the outbreaks uf disease amon^; the stock 
there. 
This establishment was livosperinc except for 
the fact (hac year alter jear durino the months 
of August, September and October a luysterious 
disease broke out tnnor.g cei tain animals, and the 
horses were dying ulf in spite of all precautions 
that were taken. In the Administration Report 
for 1901 sent ir. by Mr R W levers, CM.G , then 
Government Agent at Jaffna, an interesting para, 
graph concerning tliis mysterious horse sickness 
appeared, and in an interview at the Coioniho 
Mu^^euni Dr. Wiliey pointed out this reference 
to the r..^, representative, as wortii noting. Con- 
cerning the progress ai the Delft Horse Establish- 
ment he states : — " Tlie only drawback has 
been an excessive mortality which has 
arisen in two ways : — (1) Anaemia and " po- 
verty " among the young foals on Delft arising 
from "tics ;"{2) tiie mortality on Iranativu among 
apparently healthy tiit young horses, the cause 
of which we have been unable to ascertain. During 
the mouths of Augustito 0(>tober we have lose about 
25 per cent of the stock." Further in the report 
he states *' The mortality in Iranativu is still 
unexplained. La.«t year Mr Sturgess found the 
ponies suffered internally from parasitic worms, 
and we attributed the death to this cause. 
The disease disappeared by treatment, hut 
although the water-holes were carefully 
cleaned and fenced, the same mortality 
occurred at the same time. One of the finest colts 
was seen, apparently quite well, in the morning 
by the Stock Inspector, who was on the island, 
and was found rolling on the ground in the even 
ing, and died before any treatment could be 
applied. The occurrence of some poisonous plant at 
this time ot the year seems to be indicated, and 
a botanical examination of the island becomes very 
necessary. It is noticeable that there is no 
mortality among the cattle, sheep, or goats, which 
graze freely over the island at this time, nor does 
it appear in Delft." 
Last year the Stock Inspector said he picked out 
a certain seaweed from a sick horse's mouth, but 
this weed was only found with one horse although 
several were ill at the time. This weed was 
sent to the Colombo Museum and also to Pera- 
deniya, but was found to be apparently harmless. 
On a collecting visit to the district, in July Dr. 
Wiliey incidentally looked into the matter and 
collected some of this special seaweed, but as it 
was stated that it was harmless then and not 
poidonous until la,ter he went recently to 
thorougbly investigate the matter, 
