The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1907-04-15
MILLIONS SAVED
BY BUG MEN,
Constant War Is Maged Against
the Pests That Destroy
Wealth.

| Following is the report of Mr.. Craw,
Superintendent of Entomology and In
spector, for the first quarter of this
| year, which the Board of Agriculture
and Forestry at last meeting, voted to
have published. It gives some idea of
the scope and value of the service of
the Board s entomologists in prevent
ing the islands from being overrun with
pests destructive to both the agricul-
| turaI and the animal industries:
April 3, 1907.
To the Honorable Board of Agriculture
and Forestry, Honolulu, T. Fl.
Gentlemen: During the months of
| January, February and March we in
| spected thirty-fve steam and sailing
vessels from the mainland, seventeen
from the Orient, ten from Australia
| nd eight from other points, in all sew
| enty-one vessels that arrived from out
side the Territory, on which we found
twenty-four thousand nine sixty-fve
(24,965) packages of fruits and vegeta-
bles, twenty coy bales, boxes and eases
of plants and trees and one hundred
and ffty-nine (159)s packages of seeds
and plants by mail. Of the above
twenty-five (22) eases of fruit and
fifty-seven (57) packages of plants and
trees were infested with injurious in
sects and were therefore destroyed.
Evidently greater care is now being ex
ercised in the selection of fruit and
plants sent to this Territory. All i'm
ports found slightly infested with in
sects already established here were
fumigated with hydroeyanie acid gas,
or carbon bisulphide before delivery. |
In accordance with your instructions
we have endeavored TO locate all the
young Indian mangoes which have been
propagated from the trees that were i'm
before the present inspection law was
in force. The most of these trees have
been located and treated and record |
of them taken, so that they may be
reinspected again later on.
KEEPING OUT PESTS.
Because of the wide spread exist
ence of asparagus rust - on the main
land we now make a practice of dip
ping in Bordeaux mixture all such
roots received.
A shipment of seven hundred and
twenty cases of onions arrived from
Australia on the S. s. Sonoma on Feb
ruarv 20 that had been damaged by
salt water In some of the decayed
bulbs we observed numbers of very
small white maggots and pupae and
be, as I suspected, Pomace flies
(Drosophila), usually found around de-
caying fruit, or other vegetable matter
and which are classed as scavengers.
From dead specimens of the melon
dy'' (Dacus cueurbitae) received by
this division from the government en-
tomoIogists of India, we learn of the
existence of several parasites that pre-
vent its (seIdom or ever becoming
pest there An effort should be made
to introduce these parasites here by
way of Hongkong. This would be a
difficult experiment owing to the great
distance but the undoubted benefit to
the melon industry OF this Territory,
in case these parasites We're success
fully introduced and established, would
Justify the expenditure of considerable
money in the attempt to control this
pest.
On January . the s. S. Mariposa was
to call here to secure a sup
ply of fuel oil to finish her voyage to
San Francisco from Tahiti. She had
on board a quantity of young cocoa
nuts. also some ''alligator pears,
which we would not allow to be land
ed here. the former being subject to
the attack of fly (similar TO the melon
hv) in some of the South Sea Islands.
On January II the four-masted Amer
lean iron ship E. NJ. Phelps arrived
from Manila. We inspected the bal
last on board and found it to consist
of dark sand and small shells taken
from the beach of Cavite below Ma
Mia. We also examined it when it was
being discharged but failed to find any
trace of vegetable matter. It was
used for cement work in town. Anoth-
err American iron ship, the Astral, ar
rived from Japan on March 4 with
clean sand and gravel and was allow
ed to discharge on the wharf. The in
speetion Of ballast of this nature com
ing from foreign ports Is to prevent
the introduction of soil which might !