83 
runways, and then nest, runways and attacked trees were to be 
thoroughly fumigated. “If a little care and interest are taken” 
he wrote, “ and the treatment carried out as it should be, not only 
would the cost be very small, but the trees within this area will 
not again be troubled by gestroi.” 
In older clearings, originally planted with rubber, Pratt 
considered that in all except peaty soils, most of the timber would 
have become too rotten to harbour Termes gestroi and the nests would 
have been transferred to the rubber trees. All trees suspected of 
being hollow were to be bored and fumigated, and any remaining 
hardwood logs which contained nests were to be destroyed. 
In peaty soils, which frequently contain much buried timber 
and roots, fumigation was to be used wherever possible ; if it were 
not successful recourse must be had to the isolating drain and deep 
changkolling. Thus was the fumigator given official benediction as 
the premier method against white ants, and clean clearing relegated 
to the background with scarce even a nod of recognition. 
This bulletin concludes with an exhortation to planters not to 
be unduly alarmed for the future, inasmuch as, although it is wise 
and profitable to treat the pest, “there must inevitably result a 
steady diminution of gestroi , among the older rubber,” except on 
peaty soils. Such a disparagement of the danger would in itself 
have been enough to deter planters from recommending expenditure 
on clean clearing. 
Prom this time onwards more and more reliance was placed in 
fumigating, generally with incomplete results. Those planters who 
tired of the fumigator, usually fell back upon local applications of 
poisons, witlr worse results. The pro-fumigants held that lack of 
success was due to inefficient application of the method, and that 
with trained gangs and competent supervision all would be well. 
Late in 1914, I had my first experience of white ant work, and went 
about an enthusiastic exponent of the fumigating school, but before 
the middle of 1915 I was satisfied that fumigating, although the 
best of the palliatives, was at best but a palliative. Perfectly 
applied by perfect coolies, it might keep the attack down to a 
minimum, but who possesses the perfect coolies ? Was there not 
some other more effective remedy to be deduced from our fuller 
knowledge of the life history of the insect ? 
In nature, under jungle conditions, Termes gestroi is a rare insect 
as compared with many other local termites. It is established in 
certain dead or dying trees. At certain times there is a flight of 
sexed individuals from the nest, any pair of which can found a new 
colony, provided suitable conditions — namely, shelter and dead wood. 
In the jungle such suitable conditions are seldom met, but on a 
clearing with quantities of unburnt wood, suitable nest sites are 
abundant, and even if one favourite type of timber is absent, another 
