Waterbury evening Democrat., 1904-06-09
DESTRUCTIVE FILIPINO ANT.
Vegetables Before They Can
terminate.

a E q
The efforts Of the Philippine blu
reau of agriculture to introduce Amer
lean farm products into the Philip
pines have not proved very satisfac
tory. The American officials supposed
that the rich earth and sunny eli.
mate of the Philippines would pro
duce all kinds of vegetables anG
fruits, but in their calculations they
forgot the insects that swarm over the
island, devouring vegetation below a:
we'll as above the surface. The locusts
that devastated vast tracts of land lasi
year were a temporary pest, but the
ant and mealy bug are constant
sources of annoyance and disaster,
says the New York Sun.
To encourage the raising of Amer.
lean vegetables, the Philippine of.
fcials followed the custom of tho de.
partment of agriculture of the United
States and distributed nearly $4,000
packages of seeds. which went into
almost every province. In all these
were 1877 varieties of American grown
field and garden seeds.
Each package contained instruc
tions printed in English and Spanish:
but the reports received showed that
the Filipino would require more care
full teaching before he could learn tc
raise watermelons, cantaloupes, GU
cumbers and tomatoes. In fact. this
feature of the work proved SO unsatis-
factory that w S. Lyon, in charge OF
the division of plant industry. has
recommended that there be no more
distribution of seed except to genuine
farmers.
He complains that school-teachers
provincial officers. commandments OF
military or constabulary posts and
merchants or traders having small
lots in the towns have constituted
considerable portion of the people
supplied with seeds. and he is OF the
opinion that they take less interest
In the subject of agriculture than in
the Immediate necessity of supplying
their table with fresh vegetables.
Some satisfactory results are record.
ed. In one of the provinces promising
results were secured with imported
American field corn but reports re
ceived from other parts of the archi.
pelago have been disappointing, show.
ing tendency in the plant to dwarf
and ear out close to the ground.
In Batnagas province the stalks
reached good size and yielded two
or three large, well formed and well
filled ears to each stalk. The pro
duction in shelled grain was one-third
more than was secured from similar
adjoining area planted in native seed.
Mr.. Lyon, in report to the Phil
ippine commission, says that the use
of corn is extending into the provinces
where formerly it was not cultivated
and that where it is largely grown it
generally commands price which
prohibits its use for stock feeding or
fattening purposes. He thinks that
Ultimately the use of acclimatized
American seed will increase the yield
! one-fourth or more over that which
can be secured for native seed.
The failures with American gar
den seeds were not confined to the
native and soldier farmers. One of
the ideas of the bureau of agriculture
was the establishment of agricultural
/ experimental stations in different
parts of the archipelago, which are
conducted by experienced agricul
talrists.
The reports of these men are inter
esting as showing the difficulties in
| the way of the Filipino gardener. 1t
| is matter of comment that nearly
| all of the fresh vegetables used In
Manila are imported from China,
where the system of improving the
soil is such as. to make the use OF
the vegetables undesirable from a
sanitary standpoint. During the pc.
/ Rod Of the plague in Manila the au-
thorities prohibited the importation
of these vegetables, and for time
the people suffered from lack Of
| green food.
The obstacle in the way of the Fill
! ipino gardener is the Filipino ant,
which devours anything from the
/ foundation of a house to postage
| stamp The most valuable libraries
/ in the Philippines have been ruined
! by these insects, which eat their way
| through paper, pasteboard, leather,
wood, and even tin.
The experimental station workers
say the ants destroyed seed in the
| ground before it had time to germi-
nate, and repeated attempts to start
| lettuce, onions and beets in plant
beds. resulted in failure on this ac-
count.
Platforms high above the earth
were erMcted and the supporting poles
covered with poison. Plant boxes
were then placed on the platforms
i where the seed could terminate.
In one instance All entire corn field
of several acres was completely de
stroyed by the ants eating the corn
| off just beneath the surface Of the
ground In addition to the ants, aph-