322 MR. H. MARSHALL WARD ON THE 
the ground, and 18 feet in a direct line from the nearest coffée- 
trees; on these trees the spore-forming “ disease-spots"' were 
abundant and active, and spores were being plentifully shaken 
from them. At the end of the 12 hours I found no less than 
117 spores of Hemileia embedded in the glycerine. Many other 
experiments confirmed the conclusion that the wind conveys the 
spores over considerable distances; innumerable spores, in all 
stages of freshness and decay, were observed in the meshes of 
some canvas exposed among the coffee for several months, 
TABLE VII. 
Distance | Distance No. of E 
State of the : of glass sliplof glass slip Method of Length vastatriz 
Month. 2 Wind.| & ° exposure of of ores 
Disease. from from thea ex pasate. sp d 
Coffee. ground. Must Par found. 
og: pa 
June3 | A few spots | High.| 12feet |On the | Flat. 8 hours) 7 
of “ rust” grass. 
here and 
there, 
July8..| Bad. Very | 25 ,, 4 feet Vertical. | 12 ,, 21 
high. 
July 9... » ” 20 4 +; 33 25 y 
5 S zB n5 S 254] 
EEN 
How far the agency of man and insects Ze, is responsible for 
distributing the spores has not been directly determined ; but it 
is fair to assume that this also eomes into play. 
Hence it is certain that the spores of Hemileia, passive though 
they are, become plentifully distributed among the coffee on 
estates. If, as in the highest degree probable*, the fungus 
became conveyed to the cultivated coffee from the surrounding 
forests, it is easy to understand how its spread would be at first 
slow (since many spores are known to fail in obtaining 8 suitable 
starting-point) ; but we may also as easily eomprehend thata 
large stock of spores having become formed in a favourable damp 
and warm season, the rapid spread over a wide area of coffee-trees 
would be but a matter of time. That this has occurred during 
the last fifteen years in Ceylon is only too evident. 
The spores of Hemileia, then, can become spread over the 
* For evidence of this cf. Third Report, &c. 
