^TOV. 2, 190B.] 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
853 
TEA PESTS : THE BORER. 
MEETING OF THE PUS3ELLAWA PLiNTEBs' 
ASSOCIATION. 
Beportof a Sub-Oommiltee appointed htj the Pus- 
seUatoa Planters' Assochtion to collect statistics 
as to the existence, spread and best means to combat 
peats and blights affecting tea in this district, 
A circular was seut ont to some sixty estates 
representing approvimitely 25,000 acres ranging 
in elevation from 1,5II0 to 4,500 feet and with 
a rainfall averaging fioni !)0 inches to 180. Answers to 
the oircnlar were received from 45 estates to a total 
of 19,000 acres, 7 estates aboat 3,000 acres, are said 
by the resident to be not now affected by shot-hole 
borer though small areas h ive at times been attackod. 
The elevation of the'ie 7 estates ranges from 3,000 to 
4,5000 ft. the rainfall from 120in. to 180in. Thircy- 
aigh t estates, abont 16,000 acres, elevation from 1,500 
to 4,000ft. rainfall 90 to 150, report as being affected 
by this pest and from the intoraftation collected it may 
be said that a large proportion of this area is severely 
affected by shot-hole borer It is eminently sacis- 
factory that this Committee can say in reply to the 
circular that as regards all other pests and blights 
than ahot-hole borer this district is singularly free. In 
no case has opinion been ex[)re9sed that any other 
pest or blight has ever done serious damage or 
remained being in evidence. It is an interesting 
fact within the knowledge of this Committee that the 
shot-hole borer is spreading in a southerly direction, 
its first appearance being nearly always on the 
northern boundary of the estate. The conclusion 
this Committee has inevitably arrived at with regard 
to the sbot-hole borer is that it is the most serious 
pest that has yet been known to attack tea over any 
extended average. The .-^ff.icted area has undoubtedly 
largely and rapidly increase! during the last few 
years and drastic and systematic measures are 
absolutely necessary to keep it in any sort of check 
Weighing the evidence afforded by the responses to 
their circular this Committee considers that the 
present inroad of the borer necessitates the destruc- 
tion of all pruninga over affected areas and would go 
80 far as to recommend legislation to make this 
compulsory. On this point the Committee wa? 
divided — 3 to 2 being in favour of legislation. Fully 
alive therefore to the extremely destructive nature of 
this insidious pest the Committee are of opinion that 
the whole time o^ao export sh :.uld be given to the 
complete study of it and that this want might ba 
met by appointing a trai ned assistant to work under 
the Government Entomologist, whose time is at 
present divided amongst the study of numerous other 
entomological questions. 
MR. E E GREEN 0^'^ THE BORER. 
The Chairman :— Mr Green has kindly said he 
is vyillinfs to gave us an address on the subject, 
and we shoiild all be very glad to hear him. 
(Applause.) 
Mr Green,— who was received with applause 
said :— Well, gentlemen, I have come here more to 
give you information of practical importance and 
have not arrived with any set address to give 
you. I have brought no specimens of .shot-hole 
borer with me, but I am glad of this opportunity 
of saying a few words on the subject, for I want 
to let it be known minimising the importance 
of the pest— for I think it is a very serious pest 
and requires very careful watching, but I think 
it is a pity a scare should get about— I do not 
think the pest is likely to jeopardise the tea in- 
dustry in any way. It means a considerable 
amount of loss of crop no doubt; but I think you 
can put aside the idea it is going to wipe out 
tea as some people seem to have got into their 
heads. From what I have seen of it.— I have 
known it for over 1.3 or 14 years : it began in Nawa- 
lapitiya district and was noted in one of my first 
reports. I have not heard of any vei-y large dying 
out of tea due to it. and I have never got reliable 
45 
reports of the death of a single tree which could 
really be put down to shot-hole borer itself. But 
at the same time I should like to point out that 
to keep it in check I consider the destruction 
of prunings is one of the important points— not 
the only important point because I think there 
are several things which ought to be attended 
to. One thing I think ; it is a mistake to allow 
tea to run too long. If you allow tea to run too 
long the plant gets full of the borer and it 
weakens the stamina of the tea, and it needs 
heavier pruning and does not recover so quickly. 
I have not had experience of the district down 
here, but judging from what I have seen I should 
put the iength of interval at from 13 months 
to 18 months, according to the elevation of the 
tea as a safe time to allow tea to run. I have 
been told by several peoi^le that that would 
mean the loss of the best part of the tea ; but 
I have been told many people do prune at quite 
short intervals. What is the usual interval? 
Mr. G. C. Bliss— From la to 18 months. Other 
members corroborated. 
Mr. Green (continuing) :— I think there is no 
doubt it will necessitate more liberal cultivation 
than has been the custom in a good many places 
if tea is going to be kept up to its present 
standard of bearing. But beyond that I think if 
you keep the prunings destroyed and prune at 
fairlv frequent intervals and keep the tea 'n 
fairly good heart, it will be able to flght its own 
battles. I have frequently found in vigorous tea 
that the tendency of the plant is to deposit fresh 
woo lover the hole made by the borer, and you 
will often find that the entrance hole or exit 
hole — it is all the same — has been blocked. Each 
of the galleries made by the borer are isolated, 
and on that account I deprecate the excessive 
punishing of tea in places where the borer has 
been at work any time. I think the idea to get 
below the borer is hopeless— hopeless in this 
way because it is diflBoult to tell whether you 
are getting below the living borer or not, and 
you may be doing a lot of unnecessary damage 
to the tea. I think that ordinary pruning ac- 
cording to the merits of the biish is what I 
would recommend in a place like this, and careful 
cultivation of the tea to keep it in full vigour. 
There has been a good deal of talk about the 
chena land being full of shot-hole borer. I 
have found the borer in a certain number 
of plants, but in a great manv other plants 
that have been sent to me I have found 
a gTcat many quite different beetles alto- 
gether. It is difficult for you to understand. 
There are about 100 different beetles very much 
alike to the shot-hole borer and only distinguish- 
able under the microscope. A man sent me some 
boi'er from Albizsia branches, I told him it was 
a different thing, but he was very sceptical and 
said he was sure it was shot-hole iDorer. He sent 
me some more, and there were seven distinct 
species in the'second lot, and not one of them shot- 
hole borer. This shows how difficult it is for the 
layman to distinguish whether it is shot-hole 
borer or not. It is a class^f beetle— the furniture 
beetle, — and they go for dead wood. They burrow 
into chairs and rafters. There is only a com- 
paratively small number that attack living wood. 
Shot-hole borer. I think, I have found or it has 
been sent to me— in Giiava, in Grevilleas of course, 
and in Arnatto, and I have seen it in albizzia 
branches, but in none of them to the same extent 
as in tea. In many places there are vag'ant 
beetles flying about and they try to worry their 
vray into trees. T liave seen one attempt 'o aeb 
into an a'bizz'a sfipulaf a nnd become imprisoned 
in a drop oE gum. It does not seem to have 
established itself anywhere so firmly as in tea. 
It is still a moot point where the borer originated. 
Probab in its original condition it was very 
