Aug.  I,  1896.] 
THfi  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
101 
“Impossibility  of  IIeplacing  Suoar  by  other  Pro- 
ducts.— Now,  what  do  they  say  to  these  luifortunate 
plauters?  Chango  your  proiuots;  grow  coffee,  cacao, 
vanilla.  Abandon  120,000,000  francs  \vorth  of  indus- 
trial plant  and  ineterial.  Koot  up  your  canes. 
They  forget  that  it  is  not  in  the  height  of  a crisis 
that  such  advice  can  be  given  to  a country  crushed 
under  the  effects  of  a series  of  bad  years,  and  the 
high  interest  charged  0:1  the  capital  borrowed  tor 
their  industrial  plant  and  machinery.  T’hey  forget 
that  the  only  establishment  which  m ikes  advance.! 
on  mortgage  charges  10  per  cent  interest,  and  that 
at  the  present  moment  it  is  of  no  use  dreaming  of 
linding  cheaper  money  for  the  colonio-s,  while  the 
taxation  of  the  planters  is  excessive  in  proportion 
to  their  production. 
They  forget  that  in  the  case  of  coffee  live  years, 
and  in  that  of  cacao  eight  years,  must  elapse  before 
they  begin  to  give  a return,  and  that  from  5 to 
7,000  francs  per  hectare  (£80  to  £112  par  acre),  in- 
clusive of  the  interest  on  the  capital  during  the 
respective  periods,  must  be  expended  on  either  oJ 
them. 
And  they  overlook  the  fact  that  in  the  colonies 
the  soil  is  not  everywhere  adapted  for  the  cultiva- 
tion of  these  products.  Numerous  experiments  have 
been  m ide,  even  at  a height  of  2-50  metres,  which 
have  demonstrated  the  impossibility  of  success  in 
many  of  the  districts  in  wnich  it  was  thought  that 
tlioy  might  have  been  cultivated,  not  to  speak  of 
the  diseases  which  destroyed  the  greater  part  of 
the  former  coffee  and  cacao  estates,  and  the  cyclones 
which  periodically  ravage  these  countries. 
The  substitution  of  coffee  or  cacao  for  cane  cannot 
be  effected  except  in  those  parts  of  the  island  bor- 
dering on  the  mountains. 
It  will  be  seen,  then,  that  in  the  case  of  by  far 
the  larger  proportion  of  the  land  it  is  almost  a 
material  and  financial  impossibility  to  effect  the 
transformation  in  cultivation  which  is  recommended 
to  the  planters,  but  it  should  be  added  tUat  if  the 
colonies  were  in  a position  to  grow  coffee  and  cacao 
instead  of  sugar,  the  home  budget  would  have  to 
sacrifice  a larger ' amount  than  that  now  demanded 
from  it  for  sugar,  and  there  would  be  no  possibility 
of  employing  all  the  hands  now  occupied  in  culti- 
vation and  manufacture,  not  to  mention  the  decrease 
in  the  tonnage  employed  in  the  trade  with  the 
mother  country.” — Sugar  Cane. 

UUG8  AND  THEIR  EOUNOMIC  DES- 
TRUCTION. 
Singular  as  it  may  seem  in  face  of  the  fact  that 
the  fumigation  of  fruit  trees  with  hydrocyanic  acid 
gas  has  been  long  and  successfully  Ijcfore  the  fruit 
growing  public,  tliere  are,  however,  a number  of 
lirms  now  in  the  field  recommending  other  devices 
and  materials  for  overcoming  scale  insects  on  fruit 
and  tree.  The  arguments  advanced  by  these  travel- 
ing dispensaries  of  “ cure  all  ” remedies  are  at  times 
suggestive  of  humor,  wore  it  not  lor  the  fact  that 
they  do  succeed  in  palming  off  their  goods  to  inno- 
cent purchasers.  Again,  it  has  come  to  us  that  a 
cheap  cyanide  of  potassium  has  been  offered  with  the 
assurance  that  it  “ is  just  as  good  as  the  98  or  99 
per  cent  pure.”  Like  the  effects  in  using  inferior 
Laris  green  for  spraying  appile  and  pear  trees  for 
codlin  moth,  growers  of  citrus  fruits  using  this 
cheap  grade  of  cyanide  will  e.xporience  similar  un- 
satislactory  results.  You  cannot  wear  a number 
Seven  shoe  on  a number  nine  foot ; neither  can  you 
expect  maximum  results  in  any  endeavor  when  using 
inferior  materials.  Verily,  the  best  is  always  the 
cheapest.  , 
The  importance  of  using  the  gas  remedy  or  fumi- 
gating for  scale  insects  is  forcibly  brought  to  mind 
ill  the  failure  to  introduce  effective  parasitical  in- 
sects to  feed  on  the  red  and  black  scale  affecting 
citrus  trees.  After  four  years  trial  the  ladybug  busi- 
ness has  proved  abortive,  unsatisfactory  and  detri- 
mental to  the  fruit  business  in  so  far  as  it  applies 
to  these  two  scales.  Fumigation  is  now  the  recognized 
remedy  for  these  pests  of  the  orange  and  lemon  and 
is  preferred  to  all  other  methods — indeed,  it  is  no 
exaggeration  to  say  that  it  is  the  only  means  afford- 
ing absolute  relief.  But  its  uses  are  in  some  res- 
pects more  important  in  the  eradication  of  these  in- 
sects on  young  nursery  trees.  When  fumig.ated  under 
the  direction  of  experts,  trees  so  treated  are  jiracd- 
cally  free  from  pests,  and  hence  the  planters  can  feel 
reasonably  certain  of  clean  orchards  in  after  years. 
Viewed  purely  from  a commercial  point  of  view  the 
use  of  hydrocyanic  acid  gas  on  citrus  fruit  trees  sub- 
ject to  injurious  insects  is  a money  making  proposi- 
tion. Scaly  fruit  is  at  best  a drug  on  the  market 
and  always  brings  a low  price.  Washing  is  often 
practiced  to  render  such  fruit  marketable.  In  cases 
where  it  is  resorted  to  the  fruit  is  thereby  more  or 
less  injured  ; besides,  it  costs  more  to  clean  it  than 
it  would  to  have  fumigated  the  trees  and  thereby 
freed  them  and  the  fruit  from  scale  insects. 
During  the  period  following  its  successful  intro- 
duction some  difficulty  was  experienced  in  securing 
cyanide  of  uniform  strength  and  plirity  to  generate 
a reliable  gas.  This  invariably  resulted  in  either 
damaging  the  fruit  and  tree  by  either  too  strong  an 
application,  or  it  was  of  iusutticiont  strength  to  kill 
the  insects.  In  either  case  the  fruit  growers  sus- 
tained .a  loss.  This  difficulty,  however,  is  removed 
by  the  introduction  into  this  market  of  the  celebrated 
and  reliable  cyanide  manufactured  by  the  Roessler  & 
Hasslacher  Chemical  Company  of  New  York  City. 
This  is  guaranteed  to  be  98  to  99  per  cent  and  is  sold 
at  a lower  rate  than  any  other  make  of  the  same 
quality.  In  view  of  these  facts  the  fruit  growers 
should  avoid  the  cheaper  grades  at  any  price.  The 
matter  or  reliability  is  not  alone  in  that  the  per- 
centages of  the  lower  grades  contain  foreign  sub- 
stances that  absolutely  interfere  with  the  cyanide  of 
potassium  they  really  do  contain  (no  matter  for  what 
purpose  used)  in  developing  hydrocyanic  acid  gas. 
The  question  of  price  will  at  once  be  obvious  by 
dividing  the  price  of  the  lower  grade  by  its  sup- 
posed percentage  and  multiply  the  result  by  98 
(the  percentage  of  the  chemically  pure)  the  price 
equivalent  in  chemically  pure  for  the  lower  grade 
is  found. 
The  history  of  insect  life  is  too  minute  to  be  en- 
tertained in  a short  skit  dealing  principally  with  its 
destruction.  There  are  a few  salient  points,  however 
that  should  be  considered  as  having  a direct  bearing 
upon  the  destruction  of  scale  insects.  Nearly  all,  or 
at  least  the  great  majority  of  insects,  are  hatched 
from  eggs  in  the  form  maggots,  caterpillars  or  grubs 
usually  designated  as  larva.  To  fight  injurious  in- 
sects, successfully  the  best  results  are  to  be  gained 
by  destroying  them  in  the  first  stages  of  their  ex- 
istence. Especially  is  this  true  of  all  scale  insects 
as  before  they  become  “ settled”  on  limb  and  fruit 
and  commence  their  “ sucking”  career  and  become 
encrusted  with  an  impenetrable  shell  they  .are  ea.sily 
killed.  It  is  right  here  where  hydrocyanic  acid  gas 
fumigation  by  means  of  tents  covering  the  trees 
proves  its  great  efficiency.  Its  poisonous  and  des- 
tructive properties  when  discharged  envelope  the  irhole 
tree.  Each  and  every  part,  the  upper  and  underside 
of  the  foliage,  every  twig,  limb  and  each  individual 
fruit  is  enveloped  in  its  deadly  fumes  and  every 
bit  of  insect  life  is  killed.  Nothing  could  be  more 
thoroughly,  more  destructive  and  farther  reaching 
in  its  effects.  Eumigatiou  should  therefore  be  prac- 
ticed in  every  orchard  in  which  there  isJ  any  trace 
of  infection,  to  the  end  that  that  the  coming' season 
may  witness  a groat  reduction  in  the  enemies  of  our 
fruit  trees.  Tho  proverb  says  that  “ cleanliness  is 
next  to  godliness,”  and  as  applied  to  trees  and  plants 
it  can  be  said  that  “ cleanliness  is  the  price  of  suc- 
cess ” in  fruit  culture.  Avoid  a scale  infected  or 
diseased  tree  or  plant  as  you  would  a pestilence 
and  profitable  production  of  fruit,  and  vigorous  growth 
of  plant  or  tree  will  bo  your  reward. 
Too  little  attention  has  been  given  to  the  eradica- 
tion and  suppression  of  injurious  insects  by  orchar- 
dists  in  the  past.  The  result  has  been  that  the  war- 
fare against  them  has  become  as  essential  a feature 
of  successful  fruit  culture  as  cultivation  fertilizing 
and  pruning.  The  man  who  neglects  it  invaribly  has 
an  inferior  crop  of  inferior  fruit,  anJ  as  a con- 
sequence finds  that  “ fruit  farming  does  not  pay.” 
