1 Ave., 1899.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 185. 
too much forest land about, in which they find a home. You will find them 
there as thick as in the canefield ; and I think the best way to rid the canefield 
of them is to pick them up. 
Mr. A. C. Watxer (Isis) also made a valuable contribution to the 
discussion, he advocating both the catching of beetles and grubs. He also 
mentioned the peculiar fact that, although in his particular district there were 
practically no beetles last year, yet this year the ground was alive with them. 
Mr. Wx. Tompson (Childers): I would advise anyone when he sees 
grubs in a stool of cane to clear the whole lot out. The heat of the sun—that 
is, if it is pretty hot, say, about December—will kill the grub. My friend, 
Mr. Beale, tells me the grubs have not shown to any great extent this season, 
but I have seen them, and I think we ought to catch both grubs and beetles 
whenever we can. When we first started, we gaye 1s. and then 6d. per lb., but 
that was rather much. Some men were able to make 10s. a night at it. It was 
afterwards lowered to 3d., and then the youngsters would not pick them any more. 
Last year, the grubs did not come out at all—that is, swarming, as they did in 
revious years; and it remains to be seen, in the coming summer, whether the 
Pestle’ will come out or not. There are, as a matter of fact, a few in the ground. 
However, during the first season, we eradicated the beetles pretty well out of the. 
place, and I think, if they appear again, we shall, with the amount of money that 
we have in the bank, try and get rid of them altogether. 
Mr. E. Deyatan (Mackay): At Nindaroo there are certain trees and shrubs. 
of which the beetles are very fond, and you can always tell them by the amount 
‘of dirt underneath. ‘To get at the beetles the trees are shaken, but at Mackay 
there is not much night-catching done. The boys generally go out in the early 
morning or evening; and at Gd. per Ib. they make very fair wages. The Nindaroo- 
district is very infested, owing to the number of abandoned plantations in 
the neighbourhood, but still an immense reduction has been made in the 
ravages of the plague there. In places where a few years ago you would see. 
acres and acres spoiled, you will now scarcely see a dead stool. With regard to: 
trash, some time ago I was reading in an American paper that they were troubled 
with the same grub, and that a gentleman writing on the subject stated he found 
that where he had planted clover grubs had not troubled him. This gentleman 
stated that the dense covering of the clover on the ground killed the erubs, and 
I think the same would =pply to cow peas. or myself, I have lost more by 
grubs eating out the eyes of young cane than by grubs destroying the large cane. 
Many growers are under the impression that the grubs do not do the whole of 
the damage to the cane, but that it is done by bandicoots in search of the grubs; 
in fact, in nearly all grubby stools you generally see the marks of rats or- 
bandicoots. f : 
_ Mr. J.C. Bronnicn (Agricultural Chemist) : A gentleman has just asked. 
me a question with regard to the efficacy of bi-sulphide of carbon in connection 
with cane grubs. My experiments with it at Homebush were quite successful,. 
and I believe, if no other means were available, bi-sulphide of carbon would be- 
quite successful for this purpose, and without being too expensive either. The 
advantage of using a remedy of this kind is that the crop itself is saved. If you 
got a good showery season after the application, it would be quite possible for. 
the cane to recover, and the damage done by the grub would not be very serious. 
In fact, it has been said that rain kills the grub, but the truth is that the cane 
gets a fresh start, and the roots which had been eaten by the grubs start to 
grow again. Now, of course, if you waited for the grubs to ruin the cane, the 
application of bi-sulphide of carbon would simply kill them, and this could be 
done more cheaply by ploughing out the cane. “If, on the other hand, at the 
beginning of the season, you notice the cane showing signs of failing, I am sure 
ou could save your crop, at a cost of from £2 to £3 per acre, by using 
merronetis of carbon, and at the same time kill every grub in the stools. (A 
similar method is used in connection with the destruction of the grape-vine 
phylloxera, and in this case the bi-sulphide of carbon is much more difficult to. 
