8o2 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
rates  receJed  to  60s  or  less,  and  reports  came 
from  London,  tliat  some  kinds  could  not  be 
sold  at  all,  except  at  a luinous  sacrifice. 
It  was  another  lesson  to  tlie  sanguine  planter 
of  the  need  of  caution. 
When  prices  got  low,  cacao  was  not  so  much 
heard  of,  and  when  there  was  the  .added  horror 
of  trees  clothed  in  verdure,  and  often  laden 
with  clustering  crop,  going  out  in  patches,  there 
was  less  said  about  it  than  ever.  Those  men 
immediately  concerned  were  shocked  and  sur- 
prised, and  bustling  about,  set  their  brains  a 
working  to  devise  means  for  checkmating  fur- 
ther inroads.  Apjilications  of  white  wash,  kerosine 
oil,  tar,  and  insecticides  had  each  their  day  ; 
affecied  and  dead  trees  were  rooted  out  and 
burnt;  “poochees”  were  hunted  for;  botanical 
authorities  interviewed  and  questioned  ; inquiries 
made  here  and  there,  as  to  what  others  were 
doing,  but  nothing  to  any  good  jmi  pose — and  tilings 
were  allowed  to  go  on. 
Tin  •ough  some  occult  reason  the  subject  w.as 
tabooeii  in  public  ; most  people  seemed  to  know 
of  it  and  yet  it  was  never  discussed  ; and  the 
press,  which  ought  to  liave  been  supplied  with 
the  information,  was  singularly  free  from  any 
comments  on  the  new  horror,  and  w'hen  it  was 
referred  to,  it  was  not  in  a way  to  cause  any 
alarm.  Even  the  latest  Report  of  the  Planters’ 
Association  is  quite  mealy-moutheil  in  its  short 
paragraph  on  cacao— the  watered-dosvn  result  of 
a rather  pessimistic  paper  whicli  had  been  sent 
in — so  we  hear — but  voted  by  some  cacao  men 
as  disturbing  and  extreme. 
lias  this  conspiracy  ot  silence  been  w ise  ? 
Now  the  trouble  in  cacao  is  becoming  so  general 
and  so  serious,  that  a specialist  has  been  luomised 
by  the  Government  to  investigate  and  .advise  ; 
but  many  cacao  planters  feel  that  his  work — 
if  full  value  were  to  be  got  from  it- ought  to 
have  been  completed  by  now',  instead  of  all 
having  yet  to  be  done.  Ignorance  still 
reigns,  trees  go  on  dying,  and  many 
more  are  marked  out  for  death ; planters 
do  not  know  what  to  do,  and  the  Specialist, 
who  is  to  help,  is  not  yet  above  the  horizon, 
there  is  only  the  j»romise  of  his  coming  ; while 
our  local  Entomologist,  notwithstanding  his  able 
work,  is  not  ottered  the  opportuiuty  of  inspect- 
ing estates  affected  ! Of  course,  in  a land  like 
this,  where  the  “jioochie”  is  so  much  in  evi- 
dence, and  comes  and  goes  according  to  its  own 
laws  and  seasons,  if  the  trouble  affecting  the 
cacao  were  a “ poochie,”  hope  was  ever  ready 
to  suggest  the  jio.ssibility  of  a natural  change 
of  coiTditions,  bringing  about  a cure,  or  at  least 
a mitigation.  Cacao  property  was  depressed  enough 
with  the  low  price.s,  and  to  bring  into  any  kind  of 
prominence  this  obscure  and  unknown  ravisher, 
about  whom  so  little  was  definitely  known,  was 
thought  as  being  unnecessarily  to  a.larm  the 
monied  class,  and  deemed  unwise.  Still  it  w.as 
known  that  cacao  was  a sen.sitive  and  tender 
plant  which  demanded  and  quickly  responded  to 
care,  and  that  the  red  variety— which  is  suffer- 
ing most  here— had  all  but  disaiijieared  from 
the  West  Indies  years  ago,  and  tlie  planters 
ought  to  liave  been  particularly  awake  to  signs  of 
weakness  in  that  direction  and  been  more  open. 
The  land  was  not  barren  of  coun.^ellors.  Plant- 
ers got  so  much  advice  as  to  what  should  be 
done,  by  peojile  who  were  not  a bit  w'iser  than 
themselves,  that  they  w’ould  have  been  kept 
busy  all  the  year  round  if  they  had  followed 
a tithe  of  it.  What  they  wanted,  however,  was 
not  empirical  counsel.  Some,  we  fancy,  w'ere 
[.May  I,  1897. 
sick  enough  of  experiments  and  would  have 
been  jdeased  to  follow  authoritative  advisers. 
Had  the  Scientist,  which  the  Planters’  A.ssocia- 
tion  asked  for  a year  or  two  ago,  been  aiipointed 
at  that  time,  his  .services  at  present  would  have 
been  invaluable.  I'here  would  have  been  no 
hesitation  in  consulting  him,  and  his  quietly 
working  out  the  life  history  of  the  cacao  pest, 
would  not  have  attracted  half  the  attention  of 
calling  in  <a  Specialist  from  home. 
Now  that  His  Excellency  has  so  readily  agreed 
to  the  employment  of  a cacao  expert,  we  trust 
that  there  will  be  as  little  delay  as  possible  in 
setting  to  work.  We  still  think  Mr.  E.  E. 
Green  ought  to  be  asked  to  give  a preliminary 
Report,  or  to  consult  witli  otlier  local  author- 
ities ; but,  in  any  case,  if  a Sjiecialist  is  to  be  got 
from  England,  we  trust  when  he  does  come  he 
will  speeilily  get  to  the  root  of  the  m.atter,  and 
put  the  puzsled  and  suffering  cacao  planter  on 
the  track  0 his  enemy. 
THE  RORING  BEETLE  INFESTING  CACAO. 
Under  date  the  IJth  instant,  Mr.  E.  E.  Green 
writes  to  us: — '‘Under  separate  cover  1 forward 
a bulletin  from  the  U.  S.  Department  of  Agri- 
culture. In  it  you  will  find  a paper  upon  the 
Sculytkhe  of  the  United  States.  I have  marked 
several  passages  ttiat  m.ay  be  of  interest  to  your 
readers  as  bearing  upon  the  boring-beetle  in- 
festing our  cacao, — which  belongs  to  this  family.” 
We  quote  the  passages  marked  by  Mr.  Green  : — 
THE  AMBROSIA  BEETLES  (SCOLYTID.^:) 
OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 
UY  II.  G.  HUBBARD. 
The  term  ambrosia  beetles  is  here  used  as  a con- 
venient one  to  distinguish  from  the  true  bark-borers 
and  baik-eaters  the  timber-boring  Scolytidar,  which 
push  their  galleries  deeply  into  the  wood,  and  which 
feed  upon  a substance  called  “ ambrosia.” 
The  galleries  of  the  bark-borers  are  superficial  and 
lid  within  or  just  under  the  bark.  The  galleries  of 
the  ambrosia-eatiug  beetles  penetrate  into  the  wood, 
and  in  all  their  ramifications  are  of  uniform  size  and 
free  from  wood  dust  or  other  refuse. 
Their  food  consists  not  of  wood,  but  of  certain 
minute  and  juicy  fungi  propagated  on  the  walls  of 
their  galleries.  The  action  of  the  fungus  produces  a 
stain  in  the  wood,  giving  to  the  galleries  the  appear- 
ance of  having  been  bored  with  a red-hot  wire.  These 
characteristic  ” black  holes  ” serve  to  distinguish  their 
work  from  that  of  all  other  deep-boring  timber  beetles. 
All  the  growing  parts  of  the  fungus  are  extremely 
succulent  and  tender.  When  the  plant  is  in  active 
growth,  the  fungus  appears  upon  »he  walls  of  the 
galleries  like  a coating  of  hoarfrost. 
Various  disturbances  of  the  conditions  necessary  to 
its  growth  are  apt  to  promote  the  ripening  of  the 
fungus,  and  this  is  a danger  to  which  every  colony  of 
ambrosia  beetles  is  exposed.  If  through  any  casualty 
the  natural  increase  of  a populous  colony  is  checked, 
there  results  at  once  an  overproduction  of  the 
ambrosia. 
It  accumulates,  ripens,  and  discharges  its  spores, 
choking  the  galleries  and  often  suffocating  the  re- 
maining inhabitants  in  their  own  food  material.  The 
same  results  may  sometimes  be  brought  about  by 
closing  the  outlets  of  the  galleries  through  the  bark, 
or  by  spraying  into  them  kerosene  or  some  other 
noxious  liquid.  The  inmates  of  the  colony  are  thereby 
thrown  into  a panic,  the  beetles  rush  hither  and 
thither  through  the  gallerie.s,  trampling  ujion  and 
crushing  young  larvro  and  eggs,  breaking  down  the 
delicale  lining  of  ambrosia  on  the  walls  of  the  brood 
chambers  and  puddling  it  into  a kind  of  slush,  which 
is  pushed  along  and  accumulated  in  the  passage  ways, 
coinpletoly  stopping  them  in  places.  The  breakiug 
down  of  the  food  fungus  follows  and  in  a few  days  the 
