Evening star., 1924-10-08
WEEv|L IN COFFEE
TREES REAL PERIL
Brazilian Planters Not Suf-
ficientIy Aroused--May Be
Used to Boost Price.
ny CLAUDE O. PIKE,
Correspondent OF The star and the Chicag
nailv Ne~s

Daily News.
| CAMPINAS, Brazil. September 2s.-
i The ravages of the coffee weevil are
becoming an absorbing topic In Bra
s'han government circles. The sub
ject is of interest also to the mill
lions of coffee drinkers in the United
States. who consume more than half
OF Brazils great staple. for should
the pest spread it would make a
serious reduction ultimately in the
available supply Of Brazilian coffee
for the American markets.
The coffee pest is not a new arrival
| in Brazil. II Is believed to have come
with seed from Java in 1918. Coffee
planters in the Campinas district
! nave been aware of its damaging
enect on their trees. but few have
Germ Is said by scientists to be one
of the causes Of alarm for the future.
The pest, according to scientists. is
small fly which lays its eggs In the
| coffee blossoms. the hatched-out
larvae FEEDING on the growing berries
and leaving only empty husks, which
OF course have no value
Indifference OF Labor.
There will have to be wholehearted
cooperation throughout any infected
district to get effective results
| against the pest, and that is con-
sidered almost impossible to obtain
because Of the Indifference Of the la
borers. Where 1t is possible that the
| large plantations might get busy on
| a rigid campaign the results might
| easily be minimized by the failure OF
smaller coffee growers to do their
part.
In the earlier days of the move
to wipe out the pest in this district
trees were cut down and burned
Then 1t was discovered that the pest
did not live on the tree or it's leaves
Naturally such drastic steps met with
bitter opposition from the owners
When it was suggested that they be
! compensated for their trees diff
Guilty arose over whether the state
or the federal government should
| pay the bill.
Government action in fighting the
pest is now demanded by the cofree
| planters. The federal government
has a commission to study the stu
| alton and the state government OF
Sac Paulo has experts at work seek
Ing to evolve some scheme to check
eradicate 1t. One OF the greatest
weaknesses in the battle to save
BrazifS chief source of wealth is the
expectation of Brazilians that the
federal and state governments Will
carry on measures that the planters
| themselves should do.
One Wry 10 Raise Prices.
The commission appointed by the
FEDERAL government has been study
! ing the situation. 1t has also held
banquets and the newspapers nave
praised 1t with the usual enunon
One of the noticeable things 1t has
done was to paint a doieful picture
of the situation in order to impress
upon the fazendeiros. or planters, the
serious danger. From all reports 1t
seems that the planters refused to
become uneasy. But the impression
has gone out that a serious coffee
shortage is at hand and prices have
goneEup accordingly. With coffee
telling around 40 milreis or above 81
gold for % pounds OF type spot
coffee. Santos. the profits being made
by some of the planters are enor-
nous.
The 1923-24 crop, which has been
harvested and Is in government ware
houses or already shipped out, suf-
fcred to an estimated extent Of 25O, 900
sacks. The experts If the State of
Sac Paulo named to devise means Of
combating the plague have announced
that 1t is confined to 2s counties in
Sac Paulo, In what is known as the
Campinas district.
DR.. Jorge Dumont Villares. recog-
nized as an able coffee specialist,
thinks there is no reason for the
American trade to be alarmed over
the situation In Brasil at present
He seems more optimistic than do
some of the members OF the govern
ment investigation commission.
Copyright. i924 by Chicago Daily News Co,