6 
$nes Caused by the two diseases, each old tree being supplemented by a young palm growing 
under it. This method is of course bad as it is possible to cure the beetle disease and so keep 
the old trees living for over 50 years ; while the young palms growing under shade develop 
soft stems and so become sooner the prey to these and other diseases. The old trees, which are 
also killed out by the beetles, themselves suffer from the young palms which take nourishment 
from the same ground and the consequence is that the crop of the tall trees is reduced consi¬ 
derably. The crop of the two sets of palms are not cumulative ; the crop of one set is followed 
by that of the other but as a rule only after the death or removal of the first set. The crop 
on the land is reduced by half because about 50o/o of the trees succumb to the disease before 
the young palms, which have been handicapped themselves by the old palms whose place they 
have to take, have come into bearing. This means that with proper treatment the crop per 
acre would be doubled and there would be no necessity of interplan ting young trees which are 
bound to become, by reason of shade and of root bound soil, an easy prey and a breeding 
ground for most coconut diseases in Ike future. Certain vacancies have of course to be filled 
in but each tree has to occupy a space of about 25 feet diameter at least by itself and a new 
supply should be made only in plantations where there are gaps larger than the above space. 
The third leaflet refers also to a coconut leaf disease caused by a small weevil whose larvse 
bore into the mid-rib of the leaves with the consequence that a great number of leaves are 
broken and tern off from each tree exposed to the heavy gales prevailing here generally in 
April. During the same gales I have noticed that by the twisting motion of the leaves many 
mid-ribs get split for a distance of several feet and along several lines between the base of the 
leaf and the leaflets. The small weevil has been identified under the name of Diocalandra 
frumenti by the Director of the Imperial Bureau of Entomology who reported that it appears 
to be considered as an insect of no special importance in the other areas where it occurs 
(Madagascar, Mauritius, Ceylon and Java). In boring into the mid-ribs a resinous substance 
oozes out which gives an indication to any one standing uuder the tree that the insect is at 
work. As the insect is common all over the archipelago on indigenous palms it hi3 been 
recommended to cut the attached leaves and to burn them on tf>e spot. Another weevil of the 
same group was found in 1902 attacking coconut mid-ribs at Port Claud. It was then identi¬ 
fied ps Bn on or? stu si Breueri. This insect is endemic in Seychelles and live? generally between 
the leaf bases of YerschaffeUia splendida (palmier latte) where humus accumulates. Some 
importance was attached to this question of weevils found attacking the tnid-rib of coconut 
leaves as they are often mistaken for the red palm weevil or the banana weevil by those who 
have little knowledge of Entomology. Fortunately the red weevil does not exist in the Colony. 
It is 1 inch long or twice as long as the Eugnoristus which is itself double the size of Dioca¬ 
landra. Our sugar cane weevil which bores into the under ground stems is Troc'horropalus 
strangulatus and is half the size of Eugnoristus (i.e. about 5 m/m long). The last mentioned 
insect has been recorded in Mauritius. It does not attack coconut Daves. The bananas weevil 
(Cosmopolites sordidus) also does no harm to coconut trees. 
In the fourth leaflet the question of planting fiobusta coffee in Seychelles was discussed. 
This prolific variety was introduced from Java with its numerous subvarieties and they all 
seem to grow remarkably well at high elevations where the green scale disease is kept iu check 
by the Cephalosporium fungus. Experimental plantations have come into bearing within 2 
years and the crop was good. Unfortunately this coffee seems to be exacting in its soil re¬ 
quirements and planters have been advised not to take up planting it except in those red soils 
of special composition which are not baked and hardened by the sun like all other laterite soils 
of the Colony. The special soil occurs in dykes all over Malie, Praslin, Felicite etc., where 1 
have traced it and seems to originate from those blue stones called here fi roches Maurice” 
which are so much like dolerites, basalts, etc. These rocks are of more easy decomposition 
than the granites and for that reason coffee like most other plants with a tap root and nume¬ 
rous surface feeders are more at home in the soil derived from them, since roots can penetrate 
deeper even when the rock is not entirely decomposed. The numerous streams of this Colony 
have cut their courses in these rocks of special texture and it often happens that deep preci¬ 
pices are formed and even flight of steps bj r the more rapid erosion of these rocks when they 
occur in dykes or veins between granitic boulders which ai*e of much slower decomposition. 
Much time was spent by the Head of this Department together with other members of the 
Community in Committee meetings for the purpose of protecting and developing the food 
resources of this Colony during the war. 
An Ordinance was passed for the protection of breadfruit and Jack trees both of which 
yield such a large crop of edible fruits. Under Ordinance No. 24 of 1917 no one is allowed to 
destroy the trees in question without having received the written permission of the Curator of 
the Botanic Station. 
As another outcome of the work of the Committee in question an Ordinance (Ordinance 
No. 1 of 1918) was passed to control the sale of foodstuffs (January 1918). The controlled 
foodstuffs are at present rice, sugar and flour. 
The establishment of a Labour Bureau has also been provided for under Ordinance No. 2 
of 1918 (January). Employers of labour and landowners are thus enabled to get reliable in¬ 
formation as to would-be cultivators who are prepared to accept short leases of land or enter 
into contracts in respect of land. 
An Ordinance was also passed (No. 3 of 1918) to provide for the increased cultivation of 
ground crops. The Labour Bureau is also empowered to apply this Ordinance by which any 
proprietor may elect to surrender any land to the Labour Bureau for its cultivation by any" 
other person whether by cunt? ‘act or tenancy or otherwise provided such land shall not be 
cleared by fire except by or with the permission of the owner. Under the same Ordinance 
every proprietor is bound to plant, cultivate himself, or cause to be maintained in cultivation 
by his labourers, any part of his estate not exceeding 1 /20th to the satisfaction of the Labour 
Bureau. 
