SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 
PEST PARASITES. 
In schemes of intensive cultivation Sir Daniel Morris pointed oy;¢ 
that it were well to bear in mind that it might be possible in some in- 
stances to go beyond what was necessary to achieve the object in View, 
The opinion was held by some that the more intensive the cropping the 
greater the opportunity for the various pests to live. Further, Most | 
pests have their parasites, and wholesale sterilization may help the pegt 
by destroying the parasites. As illustrating this contingency, Sj+ 
Daniel mentioned the case of the Moth Borer attacking sugar cane jy 
the West Indies. For probably something like 200 years the Moth Bovey 
had been regarded as the most destructive enemy of the sugar Cane, 
Its life history was unknown until Lefroy discovered the eggs Which 
were deposited in a greenish cluster on the back of the leaves of the 
sugar cane. The egg clusters were so inconspicuous that they had 
entirely escaped notice. The first steps were to employ boys to eyt 
off portion of the leaves with the eggs and burn them. It was after 
wards discovered that many of the eggs were parasitized, and the 
planters were thus unknowingly destroying the parasite, and practically — 
inereasing rather than diminishing the attack of the Moth Borer. QO} 
the further advice of Lefroy the leaves with the ege clusters were not 
burned, but spread out in the shade to enable the parasites to hatch out, 
with the result that in the later stages of the crop nearly all the Moth 
Borer eggs were parasitized, and the loss in canes in that and the sue- 
ceeding crop was largely reduced by natural means 
TASMANIAN TIMBER INDUSTRY. 
Year after year, with the greatest regularity, each State Forestry 
Department directs attention to the importance of controlling our 
forests and of taking steps to provide for the future requirements of 
the Commonwealth. The latest annual protest from Tasmania against 
permitting further wastage of a rich asset is as follows :—“ Although, as 
previously pointed out, there will not be any real shortage to meet the 
requirements of the State, so far as hardwood is concerned, for many _ 
years, yet as part of the Commonwealth it is desirable to look further 
afield to make up for any deficiency in the forest areas of the neigh- 
bouring States, and even for the export abroad of the world-famed 
eucalyptus timbers, to assist in supplying the want created by the 
awful forest destruction caused by five years’ devastating warfare in 
the western parts of the Empire. For that reason it is essential that 
every reasonable care be exercised to preserve and to secure a fresh crop 
to take the place of the present stand when the latter has been utilized, 
keeping in view the fact that a fresh crop cannot be expected for general | 
purposes within at least half a century. That is in regard to satis- 
fying the demand for hardwoods only, but when ‘we come to the larger 
question of supplying the requirements of the State and the Common- 
wealth in softwoods, the necessity for sending abroad over £3,000,000 
a year for the imported article would have been obviated if the States 
had adopted a prudent policy of afforestation in the early days.” 
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