Oct. I, 1897.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
243 
smelling liquid on to the trees with matter in 
proportion of 100 parts to 1 as directed by the 
Soap Company. This had no effect whatever; 
in fact the bug seemed to fatten on it ! Stronger 
solutions had better results bat even tlien lie 
never succeeded in killing out at the sc.ale on 
any one branch or leaf. He also tried a mixture 
of kerosene and soft soap in water in va,rious 
proportions — also an infusion of quassia baik. 
Also mixtures containing in various propoition.->, 
turpentine, tobacco decoction, sulplier, lime, etc. 
Some of tliese seemed to have temporary slight 
effects but none did any lasting good. The con- 
clusion he had a’ rived at was that lady buds 
would be not only the easiest and most effec- 
tive way of getting rid of scales, but the only 
possible 'way of doing so. He suggested that the 
Government of Madras should communicate with 
Mr, E. E. Green (Ceylon) on the subject and ask 
him if lie would he willing to come over and un<lei- 
take the working out of this matter on the 
lines of the experiments so successfully made in 
H.awaii. The following resolution proposed by 
Mr. Acworth was adopted That a small 
Sub-Committee be appointed to decide upon an 
amount to be taken from the Reserve rund to 
be added to any sum raised by the Lower 
Fnliieys and other Associations for the purpose 
of immediately introducing the L.ady Birds. 
Other resolutions adopted were “ Ihat the 
Secretary be instructed to forward copies of the 
correspondence on this subject to the Secietaiy 
of the Indian Tea Association, Calcutta, with 
a view to obtaining the support of that Associ- 
ation in the matter of the employment of an 
entomologist and the subsequent introduction of 
the national enemies of the various insect pests 
inimical to tea and coffee.” “ That this Associa- 
tion would wish to record its thanks ^ to 
H. E. the Governor and the Government oflort 
St. George for the active interest he has taken 
in the sbject of the introduction of lady birds 
and other natural enemies of the insect pests 
to which tea and coffee are subject, and for 
the promise of P/^fticM ’.elp as con LpSlLs 
G. 0., No. 634, of the 2/ th July 189 . Tlmt if . 
the necessary support can be obtained trom 
planters and the tirms engaged in the nianure 
trade, the U. P. A. S. I. engage to subsidise a 
suitable Agricultural Chemist for the purpose 
of analysing manures, soils, etc., by a standard 
method and advising on all points of planting 
chemistry.” “That this matter be enquired into 
by the Sub-Committee appointed to consider the 
question of leaf disease, and if it is resolved 
that an expert shall be employed, that the 
Sub-Committee do also suggest what sum should be 
allotted from the Reserve Fund in aid of that 
purpose-ciear whole of the discussion 
that with both leaf disease arid green bug 
to contend with, the end of coffee in India (as in 
Ceylon) is approaching unless lady birds can be 
introduced to stop tlie latter. 
INDIA-RUBBER FORESTS IN 
MANY LANDS. 
MAJOR REEBEY’S SOUTH AMERICAN TOUR 
Letters have reached the India-Rubber World l^^®ly 
from Major Joseph Orton Kerbey, dated at Mol- 
lendo, Peru, whence he purposed starting overland 
through the rubber districts of Peru and Bqliviaj^ex- 
pecting to reach Para via the Amazon during 
tember. In bis report Consul Kerbey 
Sep- 
declared bis 
belief in the practicability of iiitoduciiig the Para 
rubber-tree into southern Florida, and his present 
mission to South America— the second since his offi- 
cial residence in Para — is based primarily upon plans 
in that direction, though he is also looking for eth- 
nological and other specimens for museums. Major 
Kerbey left New York on the “Lucania” on Janu- 
ary 16. From England he sailed foi South America 
touching at Pernambuco on March 4 and later at 
Buenos Aires, whence he travelled by rail and on 
mules to the Pacific coast. On May 20 he reached 
Mollendo, the starting-point of a railway to Lake 
Titicaca, beyond which several land and water routes 
may be followed to as many important rubber dis- 
tricts. At Buenos Aires the government expressed 
considerable interest in Major Kerbey’s journey and 
offered to send him to the gran cliario, adjoining the 
Brazilian state of Matto Grosso, to report on the 
practicability of cultivating rubber there. He de- 
clmed this, but when he left there was talk of orga- 
nizing a rubber-exploitation company at Buenos Aires. 
“ We propose,” Major Kerbey writes, “ to start 
a nursery in south Florida, capitalized at $100,000, 
to propagate plants of India-rubber, cocoa, vanilla, 
and orchids. We want to sell plants of rubber of dif- 
ferent sorts to companies to be formed for cultivating 
them in Florida, the isthmus of Tehuantepec, 
Central America, etc. When I get back, with 100,000 
genuine rubber nuts iu my possession, I know the 
land is ready and the money in hand to germinate 
them in our nursery. If you print anything about 
it, say that this nursery is established at Orlando, Fla., 
and Professor O. F. Winkleman will give information. 
Some rubber seed have already been sent there.” 
PEHUVIAN SOLDIEhS GATHEBING EUJiBER. 
In an article on the revolution last summer in the 
rubber district of eastern Peru, Richard Payer, writing 
from Iquitos,*' makes a note of interest on the way 
iu which the force of rubber-gatherers is recruited 
incidentally in that sparsely-settled country, Writing 
of the soldiers brought across the Andes from the 
coast districts to suppress the rebellion, Herr Payer 
says : How long the troops will feel at home in this 
tropical climate is difficult to say ; at all events it 
would be unprofitable for the Government to trans- 
port them back over the mountains. As in the past, 
doubtless most of these defenders of their country who 
have undertaken the expedition into the un- 
hospitable forests of eastern Peru with adventurous 
will remain to become peaceful rubber- 
gatherers. They will discard their swords for rubber- 
paddles, and over the smoke of their camp-fires 
turn the milk of the rubber-tree into a merchantable 
product. At the present advanced prices, it requires 
little effort to make a rubber ball, which, at the weight 
of 120 kilograms, is worth 1000 francs in gold. Such 
a ball, while the present abundant supply of milk 
lasts, can be gathered by a family consisting of two 
or three persons in eight days ; the children are es- 
pecially adapted for this work on account of their 
agility. Thus material progress, healing all wounds, 
converts many an evil into good, and the rubber-men 
of eastern Peru will soon have regained the losses 
sustained through the war, the increased population 
enlarging the production. Rubber is, and will 
remain, the best paymaster, and North America, 
for export and import alike, affords the best 
market. There is a condition of solvency of the 
business world here which denotes that commerce is 
blooming anew from the ruins of the revolution. 
ANOTHER OUTLET FOR BOLIVIAN RUBBER. 
An enterprise under way in South America, backed by 
New York capital, but about which little has yet appeared 
iu print, is thus referred to in the Panama Htdr ami 
Herald : — According to jBf JSconom'sfts (Lima), the firm 
of Ballivian & Co. has completed two-thirds of the 
road around the rapids of the river Madeira between 
Brazil and Bolivia, and will open the route to traffic 
January 1, 1897. This is only a cart-road with a 
total length of 112 miles, but it is of great im- 
portance. The disastrous attempt of Colonel George 
* Iu Petennann' s JliUeiluiigen, XLIII (1897), 43-45t 
