growing up the centre of the leaf-sheaths which form the 

 so-called " stem." The fructifications of the fungus can 

 frequently be seen growing in immense numbers on the 

 surface. Numerous, minute, whitish sclerotia are produced 

 in the diseased tissues. 



Diseased " stems '' should not be allowed to lie and rot 

 on the ground ; the fungus should be removed from the 

 " stems " as early after its appearance as possible. 



Diagnosis. Pileus |-i inch across, thin, yellowish-brown, 

 eccentric, concave, then plane, glabrous ; gills wide apart, 

 thin and dirty white ; stem h-'i inch long, thin, with a 

 flattened foot of attachment, glabrous, 2-3 mm. diamr. 



MASSEE : Text-Book of Plant Diseases, p. 206. 



Berkeley: Journ. Linn. Soc, Vol. X., 1869. 



MARASMIUS SACCHARI, Wakker. 

 (Root Disease of Sugar Cane.) 



The disease has caused considerable loss to sugar cane 

 planters in the West Indies, and was especially prominent 

 in Barbados in 1904. When a plant is attacked it shows 

 symptoms resembling those produced by a deficient water 

 supply. The leaves become dry and withered ; fewer 

 leaves are produced, and the lower leaves, which normally 

 fall away from the stem and form " trash " on the ground, 

 remain attached. The stools are dwarfed and but loosely 

 fixed in the soil, so as to be easily uprooted. The fungus 

 attacks the roots, the younger roots being short and red at 

 their tips. The proper absorption of water and salts from 

 the soil is checked and the plants, in consequence, show 

 the symptoms described above. The lowest leaf-sheaths 

 can be seen to be matted together by a white mycelium. 

 The fructifications of the fungus appear at the base of the 

 attacked stools ; they are white, delicate structures. 



The following remedial measures have been recommended 

 by the Imperial Department of Agriculture for the West 

 Indies : 



1. In the case of badly attacked fields the land should 

 be thrown out of cultivation of sugar cane for as long as 

 possible, and other crops not belonging to the grass 

 family should be grown. 



2. All " trash " and old cane stumps should be 

 destroyed ; trash from an infected field should never be 

 used for mulching young canes. 



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