1887-1903
COLONIAL REPORTS.-ANNUAL.
19
of the storm must have had a velocity at the rate of 89 miles an hour.
Some damage was done to property, several houses being unroofed and some partially demolished, but the more substantial buildings remained intact, and the results of the storm were more noticeable in the deplorable wreckage of the beautiful public gardens and the uprooting of several very fine old trees, some of them being more than 43 years old and measuring over six feet in circumference of stem. Much of this damage was doubtless due to the heavy rain which fell during the storm, over 10 inches falling during 24 hours.
Happily there was no damage done to shipping, beyond the stranding of a few junks and small Chinese craft, and no loss of life occurred, a result due to the timely information furnished by the Manila Observatory authorities, and to the local system of giving warning of the approach of typhoons by the hoisting of signals differing in shape and colour according to the direction and distance of the storm, and by firing guns as danger signals.
Afforestation.
It remains to record one more occurrence during the year 1894 which is worthy of special mention. Concurrently with the epidemic of bubonic plague, and as though Nature had purposely designed a retaliatory attack on the vegetable world by the animal world, a pest of caterpillars committed terrible ravages on the pine trees, which are such a conspicuous feature of the Colony, and which have been planted and reared at considerable cost. The assailant was the caterpillar of the large moth known as Eutricha Punctata, and its large numbers first attracted attention in the month of April. The necessity of taking timely steps for its destruction was immediately recognised, and Chinese villagers were hired to collect the caterpillars and paid in proportion to the quantity collected. In this manner some 35,000,000 insects were collected and destroyed, and within a period of two months the scourge was, temporarily at least, got rid of.
This particular species of caterpillar is said to be well known on the mainland of China, but its appearance in the Colony was remarked for the first time in 1892. In 1893 it re-appeared in considerably increased numbers, and some 30,000 trees were killed by its ravages. And in 1894 its numbers had further increased to an extent which at one time threatened the destruction of all the pine trees in the Colony.
It has been suggested that the cause of this marked increase in the number of these caterpillars since 1892 is due to the extinction of some unknown natural enemy during the very severe winter of 1892 and the close resemblance of the insects in marking and colour to the branches of the pine tree, pointing to a form of protection against some other insect or bird, lends credit to this view.
141
1887-1903
COLONIAL REPORTS.- -ANNUAL.
19
of the storm must have had a velocity at the rate of 89 miles an hour.
Some damage was done to property, several houses being unroofed and some partially demolished, but the more substantial buildings remained intact, and the results of the storm were more noticeable in the deplorable wreckage of the beautiful public gardens and the uprooting of several very fine old trees, some of them being more than 43 years old and measuring over six feet in circumference of stem. Much of this damage was doubtless due to the heavy rain which fell during the storm, over 10 inches falling during 24 hours.
Happily there was no damage done to shipping, beyond the stranding of a few junks and small Chinese craft, and no loss of life occurred, a result due to the timely information furnished by the Manila Observatory authorities, and to the local system of giving warning of the approach of typhoons by the hoisting of signals differing in shape and colour according to the direction and distance of the storm, and by firing guns as danger signals.
Afforestation.
It remains to record one more occurrence during the year 1894 which is worthy of special mention. Concurrently with the epidemic of bubonic plague, and as though Nature had purposely designed a retaliatory attack on the vegetable world by the animal world, a pest of caterpillars committed terrible ravages on the pine trees, which are such a conspicuous feature of the Colony, and which have been planted and reared at considerable cost. The assailant y 6 the caterpillar of the large moth known as Eutricha Punctata, and its large numbers first attracted attention in the month of April. The necessity of taking timely steps for its destruction was immediately recognised, and Chinese villagers were hired to collect the caterpillars and paid in proportion to the quantity collected. In this manner some 35,000,000 insects were collected and destroyed, and within a period of two months the scourge was, temporarily at least, got rid of.
This particular species of caterpillar is said to be well known on the mainland of China, but its appearance in the Colony was remarked for the first time in 1892. In 1893 it re-appeared in considerably increased numbers, and some 30,000 trees were killed by its ravages. And in 1894 its numbers bad further increased to an extent which at one time threatened the destruction of all the pine trees in the Colony.
It has been suggested that the cause of this marked increase in the number of these caterpillars since 1892 is due to the extinction of some unknown natural enemy during the very severe winter of 1892 and the close resemblance of the insects in marking and colour to the branches of the pine tree, pointing to a form of protection against some other insect or bird, lends credit to this view.
141
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.