The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1907-08-05
ENTOMOLOGISTS
FROM MOLOkA|
Three of Them Return From
Interesting Scientific
Expedition.

The trio of entomologiSts who went
10 the American Sugar Company 5
Ranch last week, returned yesterday
morning by the IwalanL They are
Prof. Froggatt, the Australian entomol-
ogist, who is on g tour of the world in
the study of beneficial insects; D. L.
Van Dine OF the United States Agri>
cultural Experiment Station, and ia
cob kotinsky of the Board of Agrieul-
ture and Forestry. Prof. Froggatt
went especially to study the insect
parasites that have troubled the sheep
on the ranch SO much, and the method
Of treating it which has been found
beneficial on this ranch, the sheep in
dustry being an important one in Aus
tralia. Mr.. Van Dine Went TO study
the bee industry. among other things,
and Mr.. kotinsky went to establish
colonies of the Arizona horn fly par
asite.
Prof. Froggatt was very much inter-
ested in what he saw. and proved a
most excellent horseman and a hard
rider. He went all over the ranch in
his Investigations.
The bee industry is very prosperous
and apparently very profitable on this
ranch. The company has tin shop
where it makes its own containers in
which to ship its honey. There is no
sugar cane on Molokai so that there
is none of the aphids that result in
honeydew honey. The algaroba -four
ishes everywhere up to an elevation of
a thousand feet and is gradually go
ing higher. This furnishes the staple
for the bees so that the honey pro-
sa ,,ff u1ra1ffX- and
contains no honeydeW honey.
THE postponement of the sailing of
the Iwalani from here, twenty-four
hours, without notice to me so that
/ could have gone on the Mauna Loa,"
said Mr.. Kotinsky, resulted in many
Of the horn fly parasites aging be-
fore they reached there. A day earlier
would have resulted in a much larger
colony being distributed. However,
got one colony over there and dis
tributed, and / took with me propa-
eating cage in which another colony
is Matching out, and ! left instructions
there with Mr.. Monroe as to their
handling. Mr.. Monroe has a great deal
of information about the life history
and habits of insects, and I have ev-
cry reason to believe this colony,
when it matches out, will be handled
effectively.
Il shall at once devote a great deal
more time to the propagation of this
parasite. For while | am not yet ready
to say that it has been demonstrated
that it will abate the horn fly pest,
it is very promising. And if they need
it anywhere they need it on the Mo-
lokai ranch. l saw horn flies settle
on animals there in such swarms as
I had not imagined 1t was possible.
They bother the sheep a good deal, too,
Sometimes producing open sores where
the skin is bare in spots from the at
tacks Prof. Froggatt went there to
study
AT Charles Bellina's PaIolo ranch,
and at Paul Isenberg's Waialae ranch,
where these parasites have been coll
onized longest. the horn fly pest is
most materially abated, presumably
because of the parasite. l am sure it
is a parasite of flies, laying its eggs
in the flies in the maggot stage. And
l know that it attacks horn flies. But
it is so specifically a horn fly
parasite as that it may be expected to
ma terially reduce the pest, cannot yet
be said to be demonstrated.
lotto Meyer carries on small farm |
ing on Molokai on quite an extensive |
scale He has a considerable area in |
potatoes and ships them to Honolulu. |
He is raising muskmelons and canta- |
Ioupes, something that are not raised /
else in the islands, | believe. |
In order to do it he has TO protect |
them from the melon fly with netting. |
PTIt he has 0uite an area thus pro-
rected. He raises watermelons on |
Juite an extensive SCALE. I was sur
orised at the extent of farming car
led on, and carried on in most sys-
and husbandmanlike way