The Hawaiian gazette., 1896-10-13
Blight May be Eradicated With
Borax Water.
50 CAN THE LITTLE LADY BIRDS
A Specimen Tree Thai Has Eeen flueksu
From the DyinE-Larvae Suck the SUB
stance FROM the TTees-A New Theory oi
Tree cui,ure-Diseovery Of cOaoanar Worm.

An adyerrisemnt in this paper the
other day called attention of planters to
the fact that the blight may be re
moved from trees OF nearly every kind
of tree infested by it on the islands
without the help OF the lady bird.
The ad. was inserted by J. D. Wicke
the weII-known cabinet maker on Ala
kea street. and while his plan may not
be endorsed by the scientist, or even
the coffee growers. il at least has the
stamp of originality about il. a re
porter for the Advertiser called on Mr..
Wicke Friday for the purpose of
learning if possible what Mr.. Wicke's
plan Is: In this the reporter was sue
cessful. and more too, he learned that
Mr. Wicke was willing 10 give his in
formation to the planters without mon
ey and without price.
After ne had ascertained that the
reporter was neither a coffee man or
blightologisr Mr. Wicke led the repoT
ter to a door leading 10 an alley sep
arating his shop from the Y. NJ. c. 4.
building and pointed 10 a koa bush
well leayed and fairly well covered
with the mealy bug Ants were play
fully running in zigzag trails up and
donw the tree stock and incidentally
carrying up more blight. In spots her
and there was the larvae OF the lady
bird. some of them just merging into
the crawling state while others were
in the earliest stage. Pointing 10
these Mr.. Wicke said:
THE information l have was obtain
ed by close observation of this tree
which was perfectly green and healthy
before the lady birds deposited their
larvae there After they were there
for a few weeks the leaves began to
fall of and the tree looked as though
il would die At that time IT was
quite full of this cottony substance.
After ten DAYS Of close watch decided
that the cause Of the bush dying was
the fact that the lady bird larvae suck
ed the substance from the tree and
sickend it.
Il have an abiding faith in boraX,
Just plain boraX. because l have ac-
complished some wonderful cures with
it and l believed the use of it diluted
in water was the remedy and l tried
ii. Where you see the tree green and
fourishing 1 scraped off the lady bird
larvae and washed the branches with
boraX water"
But why did you not wait and see if
the lady bird would not remain and
clean OF the blight?
Because I do not belive the lady
birds will eat each other; and the minute
these lady birds or the crawling things
exchange their legs for wings they fit
away. And even if they remained
there's no fear of their eating up their
young and the young of the lady bird
SC a -5rc NJ
islands"
When il was suggested that the lady
birds has been brought here at con-
siderable expense and had rid the coun-
try of certain characters OF blight Mr..
Wicke said:
Il am not a scientific man and l am
glad of it for 1 might be persuaded to
let these miserable things remain;
they may eat up some blight, but there
are others they viii not eat, they sim
ply live on the sap of the tree until
they are old enough TO fly away and
start blighting another tree.
This discovery of mine is of nc
value 20 me except for the pleasure II
gives me 10 know that a man who fol
lows my ADVICE will have strong health!
trees If the ground is healthy, of course
if the ground is played out he will have
10 use fertilizer
Then you would recommend what
Mr. Wicke?
Simply this" he replied, when you
notice a scale like this appearing or
your tree scrape il OF and wash the
tree in a solution of boraX and The
blight Will never appear again.
But you must consider. Mr.. Wicke
that on some plantations there are
more than thousand trees to an acre
and some planters have seventy OF
eighty acres planted. Would you rec
ummend borax bath TO each iudividu
al tree?
Certainly, wherever these lady bird
are Just coming into their final shape
the expense is nothing considering III,
result A Japanses laborer, or an.
numbey of them, could go round wit
a stiff brush and pail of the solution
and wash the trees in no time. If tn
planter wishes, he can adopt the lad,
bird plan and take chances on losint
his trees.
From my experience in the use O
borax on this and other trees l am sat
isfied that when a tree is once cleane
with the borax water. and if the sol
and roots of the tree are healthy, tn
blight will not return for many years
II seems to me that il is better an
cheaper for planter TO go to the eX
pense of the borax treatment than |
dilly daily with lady birds"
Do you think the borax would hay
any effect upon the beetles?
That / do not know. am told th
beetles are fewer this year than las
If this is really the case il is becaus
there is less rubbish and dirt of th
kind they breed in than before. 1t
the rubbish that breeds the worms fr:
and afterward they become beetles an
other ravaging pests. We were ono
worms ourselves"
And pests now, yentured the repol
ter.
L will not admit that, but will te
you something that will surprise yo'
1 can make worm appear right hel
in the air. l know you don't belieI
it. but | can. How2 l will take a
ordinary eocoanut fresh from the trt