Pacific Planters’

Digest

New Cattle Repellent

HIGH hopes are being held for the ultimate result of trials with a cattle repellent which one major agricultural chemical firm hopes will solve the dilemma of copra planters who wish to run cattle in conjunction with copra growing.

Cattle breeding has long shown it self a profitable side-line to copra growing; the cattle grazing on pastures between mature palms.

Trouble is that in plantations with new coconut tree plantings the graz ing cattle rarely can be dissuaded from adding the succulent sprouting palm fronds to their diets.

Fencing off new plantings has hitherto been the only solution and this, particularly if the new plant ings are considerable, has been a costly procedure. So copra planters cum cattle breeders have long cried out for something which when sprayed on new palms would have the effect of making the new growth repugnant to the cattle.

The repellent naturally had to be one which could withstand periods of heavy rainfall.

The new repellent is reputed to contain all wanted properties under all weather conditions, and interest is centred in the several areas of the Fiji Group where it is currently under trial.

Danger Of Nematodes

PLANT nematodes are recognisable by the root-knots, lumps and lesions they form on ground root crops and their effect on the plants themselves are stunting, wilting and often death.

Many plants are susceptible to the microscopic worms which infest the soil and cause nematodes; and par ticularly prone to attack are melons, peanuts, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, cucumbers, potatoes, egg plant, beans and pumpkin.

Since the nematode worm thrives in warm, moist conditions, its pre dominance in the Islands is under standable.

Infestation is found in most soils in the world, but the definite alternate hot and cold seasons elsewhere regulate the activity of the pest, a regularity not possible in most tropical regions.

Samoa, Tonga and Fiji are now alerted to the damage caused by nematodes, and in all three countries heartening results have been found with the use of: 1. A mixture of dichloropropane and dichloroproprene which is sold by all chemical companies under a variety of names, and 2. Ethylene dibromide or EDB.

Another control possible in areas which have dry summer periods is the fallow method. Garden or farm areas must be rotated so that one section

is left fallow each summer. Ground must be kept dry and free of all plants and weeds, and the soil turned several times during the summer. The com bination of no food, dryness and heat gives good control.

Susceptible plants can be raised for one to two years following the treat ment. (This treatment is impossible if trees or shrubs are rooted in the in fested area.) Certain plants are resistant to nematodes—garlic, sweet corn and

Solomon’S Copra Drier

The Department of Agriculture, Central District, British Solomon Islands Protectorate, has developed anew type of drier for making first-grade copra. It can be made almost entirely from local materials and is cheap and easy to build. Coconut shells are used as fuel, thus saving time and effort involved in gathering firewood. Ceylon-type driers have been built previously on Guadalcanal, but none of them had proved entirely satisfactory.

The present modified version, known as the Chivi drier (Chivi coconut) was built in three days; it consists of two rooms, one for storage and the other for drying. When the fire has been lit and the door of the drying room closed, the fire burns without smoke for a period of 24 hours.

Photo: Ted Marriott

Western Lima beans. After two or three years of non-susceptible crops it is possible to grow a susceptible crop one year if weeds are kept out.

Battle Of The Bugs

IT is estimated 75 per cent, of all living creatures are insects. Ento mologists have classified between 600,000 and 1,500,000 kinds. New insects are found yearly and some experts estimate something in the vicinity of 10,000,000 different kinds exist in all parts of the earth.

Jaded Islands dwellers could be forgiven for assuming that in the

matter of distribution tropical areas have received more than their share.

Yet since science entered the bug battle —spectacularly with DDT dur ing World War 11, and later with Dieldrin, then later again with other formulations—insect control has been proven to be well within the scope of any individual or society which cares to make the effort.

Dieldrin and DDT, once sure killers of a large variety of creepy and crawly things in the tropics, lost ground some years ago when many insects grew resistant to their lethal properties. (It is interesting to note

Dieldrin particularly remained effective in Sydney three-four years after it lost partial control in the tropics).

Now Chlordane and Diazinon have appeared on the tropical market after 15 years of effective use in the US and results from both have proved outstanding.

Not only do the two formulations control a wide variety of household, farm, lawn and garden pests, but both leave residual effects which last up to six months. As well, they have a low toxicity to mammals and won’t harm plants.

They control cockroaches, ants, mosquitoes, clothes moths, flies, root maggots, grasshoppers, bed bugs, dog ticks, wasps, termites, earwigs, centi pedes and a host of other bugs.

Ambrosia Problems

AMBROSIA beetle, the bane of timber growers the world over, rates high on the unpopularity list with timber merchants in the tropics.

Seasonal in temperate climates, this small to inconspicuous bug continues its boring activities the full year around in all hot, humid tropical areas. The pest concentrates its activ ities on newly felled trees, preferring soft woods to hard, but attacking either at will.

Areas with established timber ex port industries such as P-NG, Fiji and the Solomons (Samoa is currently investigating timber export prospects) regard Ambrosia beetle as a major pest to the industry, and one that could wreck it if left unchecked.

Defects the beetle causes to felled logs are prosaically known as pin hole and shot hole and the beetle is invariably associated with wood mould.

For some time experiments have been going on with various chemicals to determine the most effective means by which the Ambrosia beetle can be kept from the logs on which it seeks to establish its own particular Olympus.

Of late, 100 per cent, effective re sults have been achieved with the use of BHC (Benzine hexachloride) and diesel fuel oil, mixed 1 gal of BHC to 10 gals of diesel oil.

Newly felled logs sprayed with this particular nectar not only show up as immune to beetle attack, but they re tain their immunity for a period of three months even if the logs are left lying in the forest. • There are 5,180 foreigners in New Caledonia, according to latest published figures. Indonesians head the list with 3,700 and next come the Vietnamese with 1,000.