The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1896-10-13

Prof. Koebele and COMMISSIONS
Marsden were seen yesterday regard
ing Mr.. Wicke's antipathy for the lad.
birds and his reported enemy for th'
blight. Prof. Koebele had just return
ed from a visit TO Mr. Wicke and haC
brought with him a branch of the mon
keypod tree which was harbOring anC
supporting both the blight and tbs
bug.
Both Mr.. Marsden and Prof. Koebele
were willing 10 allow Mr. Wicke 10
treat his monkey pod bush with boraX
water if he wished, but they would
like to have impressed upon the public
that the salvation of the trees and
plants in the Hawaiian Islands de-
ponds upon the life of the lady bird.
There are a number OF species of lady
birds which feed upon vegetation, but
none have ever reached here, and it is
hoped they never will.
As this is so, then Mr. Wicke's state
ment that the lady birds are sucking
out the life of the tree" must be mis-
take. The cottony substance contain
ing the larvae of the mealy bug is
CAAAAAoA ~ AAlN AeA elC VI AA4C lohs blA "
and the mistake of Mr.. Wicke is in
taking one for the other.
Two years ago the mealy bug COW
cred all the monkey pod trees in Ho-
nolulu, but the introduction of the
cryptolaemus soon reduced the num-
Der This is evidence that the lady
birds have prevented the destruction
of the trees.
Mr. Wicke was asked TO break off a
branch infested by the blight and put it
in the jar containing lady birds and see
if they would not clean off the blight.
This he declined to do, because he is
satisfied that the lady bird does not
lay eggs, and consequently does not de-
post them in the eggs of the mealy
bug or in its larvae. Mr.. Wicke does
not say by what means they propagate;
he knows they do, and there he is
willing TO let the matter rest.
In some respects the larvae of the
cryptolaemus so closely resembles the
mealey bug that it is difficult TO dis
tinguish them apart until the crypo-
laemus reaches the stage where it be-
comes active and begins to crawl.
From the time the eggs hatch, the
larvae begins 10 feed upon the mealy
bug, and il continues to feed inces-
sanity for fifteen days.
At this point the larvae has become
gOrged and it then CLUES itself TO a
branch or twig until it changes from
the crawling bug into the winged lady
bird and takes its departure. Within
a few days the lady bird is ready to lay
its eggs, and it searches for a tree
containing the mealy bug. In this way
the work of determination goes on.
The trouble with Mr.. Wicke is that
he has never made a study of the
blights that are here, or their enemies.
He has taken monkey pod tree and
by simple investigation drawn his
conclusions, and these are final
Chief Justice Judd was in the Com
missioner's Office during the discussion
of blight and borax. He, too, has faith
in borax for some things, but his ex-
perience with the lady birds on his
fruit trees has given him greater faith
in the enemies to the blight INTRODUCED
by Mr. Marsden and Prof Koebele.
The Chief Justice spoke of the con-
dition of the trees up to the time of
the introduction of the lady birds. He
had acted upon the advice of the Com
missioner and sprayed the trees until
his yardman was weary of his place
He bought gallons and gallons of wash.
only to find ants carrying up the blight
as soon as the tree was dry. Spraying
or washing the trees merely brought
temporary relief; the one thing need
full was the lady bird, and directly that
was introduced and he obtained col
Ony, the blight disappeared from his
trees. Speaking of the scale here, he
said there was an enemy for every one
OF them. the difficulty was to find it.
Another gentleman spoke of the Dor
ak cure as bosh. He had heard of it
two weeks ago and tried it on an or
ange tree. 1t took him a day TO rub
of the blight and the lady bug, and
the next morning he washed the tree
carefully with borax water. Instead of
it being a preventive TO a recurrence
Of the blight, it was about as effective
as cold water. The blight is as strong
today as ever on that very tree.
Why should Mr.. Wicke presume to
say" remarked the gentleman, that
the trees washed with borax water will
keep free from blight for years to
come? His discovery dates back about
three weeks, and his exhibition tree
has blight on il even now, since he has
washed it with borax. If it was posi-
BILE to free his tree from lady birds
and allow the mealy bug or whatever
the blight is to remain on it the chance
is they would increase so rapidly that
he would have no tree left in little
while