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Montserrat 18

VII-24-36 Sir Gerald and Dr. Powell were scheduled to leave at 6 this morning but the boat didnt appear till after lunch.It was the S.S. Ingoma, stopping here specially for them. It goes direct to England from Barbados and Antigua. They were taking several large cases with them as freight, but at the last moment found that the boat would accept no freight, so they took it as luggage.
As the day was exceptionally clear, after hard rains during the night, I went out early. Went across the island again to find a sandy beach.

[[underlined]] Station 268 [[/underlined]]
Beach at Trants Bay, 1/4 mile east of station 264. From under seaweed took 2 [[underlined]] [[Cafiris ?]][[underlined]] and 1 other beetle. There was no sand but considerable seaweed. In a convolvulous flower on the beach took 1 Melyrid.
Took a sample of sand dug up from under the rocks of the beach. This is the only place on the island where there is supposed to be a small coral reef.

[[underline]] Station 269. [[/underline]]
Beach at Farm Estate, 3/4 mile south of Trants Bay. From under seaweed and drift took 9 Staphs ( [[underline]] Cafiris [[/underline]] 1, [[underline]] Coproporus [[/underline]] - 2, Lorinota - group - 6), 25 Carabids, 1 Hydrophilid, 1 weevil, and 1 other solioptera. The [[underline]] Cafiris [[/underline]] is smaller than and different from the one
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taken earlier at Trants Bay. It may not be a [[underline]] Cafiris [[/underline]] though it appears to be. The [[underline]]Coproporus [[/underline]]is a fine large, very red species.
At farm estate I met the owner, Mr. Carl Hollander. We talked for half an hour, chiefly of cotton. He is a Canadian, here since 1922 and doesn't care much for the life here. He says the Pink Boll Worm does perennial damage, but is not bad enough to be given serious thought. On the other hand the "Cotton worm", a leaf-feeder, is quite bad, and all estates dust for it regularly. It is evidently a continual migrant from Brazil. He says the dusting kills the current crop of bolls and seems to control the worm, but no crop is obtained from a dusted field. He feels that very likely the pest would do less financial damage if left alone, than the dusting does. He says that the peasant proprietors never dust, and yet seem  to come through the bad years with about the same crop as usual. He spoke of the gullibility of West Indian planters on any "recommendation" by a "specialist." He also deplored the continual shifting of the agriculture men and the use of the estates at large for experimenting, instead of proving a measure before recommending it. 
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