, 1911-07-05

w III . AAO ON5G IAAAC bAAA' NA
the Ordinance for St. Croix Of the 18th June
1909, prescribing measures against diseases
OF the cotton plant.
| should like to state here that | consider
the Ordinance to be an excellent one, and
one which is calculated to be OF the greatest
benefit to all cotton growers. There has
been on the whole a good cotton crop reaped
this year, and / have no hesitation in saying
that believe this largely due to the wise
provision Of a close season for the cotton
plant. | say tins with much confidence,
now that | have seen tue condition OF the
cotton fields of the island towards the close
of the crop. The fields | have examined
have much disease III them, and III some
cases every plant in the held Is attacked
with more than one serious pest. On Sat
urday last, | took the trouble to colIect
these pests from one field, IN order that
might bring home to You the danger that
YOU run without some such Ordinance as
Inc one now under consideration. There
was no difficulty in finding the pests, as
every plant in the field was attacked by
several.
The most serious pest, l consider to be
the leaf blister mite this | found on every
plant in the field which | examined, end
in some Instances every leaf was attacked,
and often even the bracts Of the boil and
the floral envelopes Of the flowers. ! show
You here some specimens of the work OF his
pest these are not specially bad examples
OF it, but represent the i mai condition OF
the field which | examined The very best
method Of dealing with this pest, IS the
adoption Of Il close season the mites are
enclosed in the small 9ulls on the leaves
etc, and Will remain ia them when the
plants are collected and burnt III tins way
the pest viii be almost completely GRADIENT
ed for the time being.
In clearing fields, the work should be
done very thoroughly all dried leaves,
stems, boIls etc, should be Iaked Oft the
ground and destroyed. When the new crop
is sown, the young plants viii have few in
sects to attack them, and it win be some
time before the pest Will increase sufficiently
to cause serious damage. On the other
hand if a young crop is soWn on a fed
while old plants are in a field near by they
will be rapidly infested, and tue damage
viii be likely to ruin the crop.
Next in importance comes the cotton
staiuer | have hcle au open Ion with the
insects on it Il number Of the staiuers got
away, but even then the IoII IS SIMPLY IN
tested, and must have at least 40 or 80 IN
sects on it here again the specimen shown
YOU is d normal representative u the state
of conditions in the field from which the
specimens were collected This pest is @
very serious one indeed, as it not only in
lures the cotton by staining it, but it also
causes the bolls to develop badly and tho
fibre to be weak the cotton seed is olso
affected, and rendered worthless either for
planting or Tor the extraction Of oil.
This pest should not be difficult to deol
with the close season will help it's destruc-
ton greatly but it requires otLer measures
as well. for when the cotton plants are up
rooted and burnt, u IuIa &C number Of tie
stainers will fall to the ground and escape
destruction. During the close season, the
insects that have escaped ought to be tat-
ped by means of heaps Of cotton seeds
placed at intervals IN the field the staincrs
will collect on these, and may be destroyed
by sbovelliug up the heaps and dropping
them into a bucket Of hot water, OF III Il
bucket containing water with a little kero-
sene on its surface. If hot water Is used, the
same seed may be used again for trapping;
if kerosine is used, fresh heaps of seed must
be used. Cotton staiuer, should also be
collected and destroyed from the ground
underneath the Otaheite. Under these
trees they can usually be found in large