With our crops: Albay B. P. I. agents vs. rice army-worms

Title

Creator

Serrano, Paquito

Language

English

Year

1946

Subject

Agricultural pests—Philippines.

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Abstract

At the inception of the infestation, the local B.P.I. agents were virtually sailing smoothly in combating the crawling saboteurs due to the fact that at the time one drum of calcium arsenate, used in dusting. was available in the office of the Provincial Agricultural Supervisor.

Fulltext

PROFESSIONALS' DIRECTORY PANIQUI SUGAR CENTRAL ~111.l~ .\'>!l Di~Tll.l.ERIE~ :'\lalt" y1.nr Rf':-cn-:uino .. Pani<1ui. T;Hl:~t· International Forwarders C11.~trnr..c llrrih·•·s TrnC"k!i fnr ~eneral c:irgo lbuling, Farm Prt)tlucl~ Orut1uicta. corner Zurb:iran. ~lanila LVN PICTURES Enjo~-ing Better thiln ever Bo.1L;i11!! Oifo.·t· Q:1t'!'••ll Bouh:·\·ard :'-.lanila Cht·m~c~illy Purt' Alcohol :.-;an Ca rh. \\"hi:oky SAN CARLOS DISTILLERIES NEPA EMPORIUM ~!:!J!•blt:na Tr::rn,.it · . ·\n_e:,.;c ... L. '.\ladri<I Ri:.ral .\n:nm: Corner Uororeo jo,.e S. L. SISON & Co.-REAL ESTATE Shippiug. Farming. 105; .\rl~~ui :vlerch::mcli .. ing. ~lanufacturing ~lanila Children's and Women's Dbc:::t:-t•. Ere!', ~o:oe~. etc. DP..\. TGl.1.\$.\ FR.\SCl~CO H.\J.JU r ~~~~H.l~~~~~~T Con:!ouhatiou, t-: .. 1imates Inspecrion. 1-hLARION s. Sll .. \\".\S JfJOJ Oroquieta Manila 16 WITH OUR CROPS ALBAY B. P .I. AGENTS vs. RICE ARMY-WORMS PAQUITO SERRANO, Albay At no other time has the adage- quantity of either of the three above··Nccessity is the mother of inven- cited plants, pack inside a sack (burtion"-been more fully illustrated lap prefernble) and shower a handful than at present when rice cut-and of lime. At one corner of the padarmy-worms are doing great havoc <lies where the water rushes in, make to the seedlings in four municipalities a small depression on where the sack ot Albay. Up to this writing. the num- should be inserted in such a way that "oer of sacks of palay seedlings at- wi1en the stream flows into the seedtacked by these pests is nearing the bed. the water will carry the aroma 900 mark. ui the concoction in the sack, sufloAt the inception of the infestatiutt. the local B. P. I. agents were virtually sailing smoothly in combating the crawling saboteurs due to the fact that at the time one drum of calcium arsenate, used in dusting. was available in the office of the Provincial Agricultural Supervisor. Farmers began to feel the pinch of the sabotage as soon as the arsenics\ poison got exhausted. And since the worms threatened to decrease the production of palay for this regular season and the requisitioned cnlcium arsenate from the B. P. I. at Manila was long in coming. the farmers and thP field agents had no other alternative but to apply practical control measures in a concerted effort to suppress the rnvages immediately. Aside from overflowing, brooming. picking, crushing and burning thP worms, the other measures recom· mended by the Bureau men proved . to some extent, effective. Some of these are1. Application of coconut meal, bin/id or tiki-tiki. The infested area is dried for a period of two or three days by altering the course of the water supply. Broadcast evenly tiki-tiki, binlid or finely shredded coconut meat over the dried area. The theory here is: These materials will at first attract the ants whose next objective will then be the destructive worms. They are either murdered or gorged in by the ants. 2. Application of tubli (fish poison), kanda or madre de cacao. Dry thoroughly the seedbed attacked. Pound to a puli;i a sufficient A. PE~A OTEYZA J{E,\I. ESTATE HROKER "L.\'\i> • 11171Ll>J:>;(; • J·l<Jl'SE 1.0:\:" • RENT,\L. ETC. J.IJi (;a.,.tamhidc: S1., Sampaloc, .Momil:t ~·2-ting and poisoning the worms. 3. Appl icd io11 of cement. Drain the seedbed well and spread Jie powdery coement over the seed1 ings. Although an Albayano farmer rubbed in this control measure, which 2ccording to him is successful espe· cia!ly in non-irrigated places as he h3d experimented already on his infested seedbeds. the field workers ol the B. P. I. are skeptical as to the advis::ibil ity of this method inasmuch as the cement. if used excessively, might pro\· e f8lal not only to the en.emy but to the tender seedlings as well. The inadc>quacy of control"laborcrs (no avnilable fund to hire them) and calcium arsenate coupled by the increasing scope of infestation that tend to spread like butter to other ricegrowing localities of the province, spur the local field workers of the B. P. I. to unfurl new discoveries in comb?.ting the noxious rice plague. Commendable is the recent revelation of Plant Sanitation Inspector Julian C. Ilagan who pulled off a tf'St on the mixture of rice bran ( darak) and white arsenic in three different harassed seedbeds owned by three different cooperators in Legaspi. The mixture was in the proportion of one petroleum c"n ricehrnn to onefourth salmon can nf white arsenic. Found to bP 95 ~;. effective, this rnmbination is hroadcast over the seedbeds. drameci of thP last drop of water two or thre!" days previously. In four hours the pests succumbed. The treated seedbeds were then re-irrigated or overflooded to wash the leaves of the seedlings in order to circumvent any possible bad effect of the arsenical poison. To produce tangible results, the application of this poisonous compound should be done early in the morning or late in ( CfJ/1th1111•d 011 pnge 17) Questions And ... t Cr111ti11111·1i fr''"' p11g1· Q) nary incubators it is necessary that only turkey eggs of the same size be set and that the bulb of the thermometu be placed on the same le\•el with the uppermost portion of the eggs. All other factors to be considered, such as age of eggs, moisture, and heat should be. the same as those for chicken eggs. 34. What is the best ratio of toms to hens? Use one vigorous tom for as many as ten hens in small flocks. In large flocks use one tom for every 6 to 8 hens. 35. What is the percentage of fertility in turkey eggs? Usually. it is 90'; to 100';, which is higher than the percentage in chicken eggs, but sometimes all the eggs in a clutch are infertile. 36. Why is this so? It appears that a successful breeding is sufficient to fertilize the whole clutch of eggs. However, when one tom is too big and heavy for the hens or if other toms continually interfere during mating, the turkey hen lays infertile eggs. 37. How many turkeys can be reised in a hectare of pasture land? It is from 20 to 30 hens, depending on the luxuriance of plant growth, and on the number of toms to be used. If most of the food, however, can be given in well-balanced con..:entrated feed mixtures, even 500 turk~~-~!!Y.. b«:.!~!!~_per .hectare. Albay B. P. ! .... ( Co11Ji111(1'(( from page 16) the afternoon. In one of these experiments conducted on the 15 cavans seedlings of Tomas Alianza of Bagumbayan, Legasoi. Mr. Ilagan found the seedbeds studded with cracks or slits where the worms absconded. Broadcasting of the compound was accomplished around 6: 30 p.m. but on account of these slits which practically sheltered the pet peeve of the farmers, success was about 80% only. Several kilos of white arsenic have been requisitioned from the Manila office of the Bureau of Plant Industry and with the farmers themselves ready and willing to furnish the ricebran, it would ·not be amiss to avert that this simple mixture may prove a real substitute for calcium arsenate in subjugating the rice cut- and armyworms that today are proving real thorns on the side of the rice planters. FARMING AND COOPERATIVES JVITH OUR •TENANTSJ New American Farm Machinery Will Help Farmers Everywhere Br IL\1rn1.D FA1R Ri·11frr.,·· Spc·(illl :'\Ew YORK, June b (Reuter)-:\""" iarm m;h .. ·hincry dl':-:.ignl'd in the l'Xperinwnrnl \nlrbhop:< oi the l' nited State; Gu\'crnml·nt's ·rt'nnl':'"l'l' \"allry Authority projrt·t. a ::'7~0.000.000 hrdro-cl,·ctril' po\\-l'r and flood l'ontrol den_·lopnwnt. will lwneiit farmers thrmq.dttout the world. ·rhe Ill'\\- machinl·ry is heing made :ffailahle for rnanufacturcr lw conunercial con\.'.'ern:', much of it con:-<iderrcl useful for increasing food production in Eurup<' and ihia. The L: nit~d ;\at ions Rcli .. i and R .. hahilitation Admini>traIt should be remembered that th" more birds there are, the more shoots, buds, fruits, and insects are needed for feed every day. 38. Give a poult mash feed mixture. Mix the following according to weight: 3 parts, first-ciass tiki-tiki 2 parts, finely-ground yellow corn part, finely-ground mango (or soybean oil meal) 1 part, binlid 1 part, fish meal (or shrimp meal or meat meal) To every 100 kilos of the abovegiven mixture add 3 kilosof finelyground oyster or clam shells and }~ kilo of salt. 39. When should the leedins ol poults start? 1'he feeding of poults should start 36 to 48 hours after hatching. Like chicks there is sufficient food in their bodies to keep them from getting hungry. 40. Where is the mash feed placed when aiven to the poults? On the second and third days small amounts of poult feed may be spread over clean newspaper or other clean surface or directly in the feed trough. From the fourth day on, the feed should be given in the trough and it should be either dry or in moist form but never wet. If moist, the amount should be such that the poults may clear in 15 minutes; they should be fed every three hours. Larger amounts if not consumed are liable to spoil and do harm. (To br rr111/i1111rd) (.'f1rrn-po11dt'11/ lion has or<lrrrd 500 units of a new thrc:-;hing- machine for U"'l' in Central Europe. J\notiH"l" 250 units ha\"c hecn nrdnc<l lw South American burer>. .\lodcl; of the machinery h:{ve been placcil on public exhibition for manufacturer:-.' in:-;pn:tion and some are on fartor\' :t:'st·mhh- line:-;. '"l'he lll'W <lcYdop11w1;t> \\ill h;·lp farn1e1-,; thrr:<h \\·heat mill ilour. drr hay, irri~atr fields and ;-;hell pranuts. One 111ad1inr rn11'idercd ,uitablc for l; :'\ R RJ\ and South Americ·an use is a trailer thrl':<hcr. It can lw to\\Td behind an autonwhilr from onr <mall hill field to anothl"r ancl thn·slH·s-\\ idr Yarictr of ;!rains. :\ frcd .!!rindl"r ha::-; been de\·rloprd to meet th!' needs of the small farm. It wri!!h!:' only -J.i pounds exclu~i\"e of hopper motor and control :1ttad1nwnt ;1utomaticall~- rq .. !ulates the flo"of grain into the mill and does not require the con":'tant atkndanre ·of .the farmer. 'frsts ha,·e shown this mill ran grind all the g-rain required durin.:! the year for an an·rngc size farm. A Ill"\\" machine also ha:< hrrn dn-iscd to scarifr sel'<i>-to hreak the hard seed roating 'to speed gcnnin.ation. Laboratory expcrimrnts show 85 to 90 per cent of bmh dm·rr :<ced \\·ill ~erminate within 21 day:< if it ha:< been :<carilied. Only 20 per cent of the uns~arificd seed~ g-erminate in he same period. J)rin~n I)\" a onc-horsepo"·rr motor the machine. con:<ists of an abrasi,·c disc and fan. It ha:< a capacity of 200 to 300 pounds oi seed> per hour. A spri.:ial peanut harvester i:::- tractordr:nn1 and equipped with a series of moving forks that pull the peanuts krour;<l nut>) from the ground, shake the dirt from them and throw them into loose ro\\'s for effective drying. One man can operate this harvester and lw working two rows at a time can puil and shake 15 to 30 acres of peanuts a day. Another Ill"\\' devise i> a portable :<prinkler for irrigation. !t consists of a motor-driven pump, a series of sprinklers nnd durable lig:htweig:ht pipe with connections that can he rcadill' detached so distribution lines can be easilv moved from one place to another over ti1e fields. 17

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