51 



of circumferent shadow. The imposing majesty in the appearance 

 of this tree, the ordinary silk-cotton tree of the open savannahs had 

 led Indians and Africans to designate it the God-tree, — an epithet 

 they do not use to the unbranched Eriodendron, though it may 

 stand in solitary grandeur a hundred and twenty feet high. At 

 the time of the conquest of the island two hundred years ago, the 

 Halfway Tree was one of these tall solitary cotton trees of the 

 Liguanea plain. Two hundred years more remote, the country was 

 the home and inheritance of the Indians and the vertical moon 

 saw these groups gathered beneath it at their midnight dances. 

 The Halfway Tree ceased its associations with past and present 

 history thirty years ago. {Victoria Quarterly, Oct., 1890.) 



DISEASES OF COCONUTS. 



The Director has examined from time to time all over the island 

 reported cases of diseases of coconuts. In many instances the un- 

 healthiness or death of trees was due simply to the unsuitable nature 

 of the soil or climate. If the soil is a thick clay, or rocky, or very poor 

 in plant food, or very dry, or liable to be saturated with standing 

 water, the trees are never healthy, and when the conditions are 

 more than usually unfavourable, they may succumb altogether. 

 While in this unhealthy condition they are much more liable to 

 the attacks of insect and fungous pests, and the immediate cause 

 of death may be due to attacks which reach such vital parts 

 as the terminal bud or the feeding roots. 



But besides unhealthiness and death due to unfavourable con- 

 ditions, there is a disease which attacks the flower parts and young 

 nuts, sometimes spreading along the softer tissue, and at length 

 reaching the terminal bud, causing the death of the tree. 



Mr. Cradwick has been engaged at intervals during the last two 

 years in applying various remedies suggested by me. These ex- 

 periments are still in progress, but I may say that I find the 

 most effectual remedy is to spray with Bordeaux Mixture at in- 

 tervals of 6 to 9 months until there is no trace of disease. A 

 spray pump is necessary, and even high trees can be sprayed by 

 attaching a long hose to the pump, and sending a boy up with 

 the nozzle, or even by tying it to the end of a long bamboo. 



In Grand Cayman and in parts of Jamaica planters have not 

 been successful in growing coconuts because the young plants die 

 off just at the time of the first flowering. It is now hoped that 

 with the use of Bordeaux Mixture, they will be able to grow them. 



BORDEAUX MIXTURE. 

 Bordeaux Mixture is best made according to the following for- 

 mula : — - 



Copper Sulphate ... 6 lbs. 



Unslacked lime ... 4 lbs. 



Water ... 50 gallons. 



It requires careful mixing, or the ingredients will not combine 

 properly. Put 25 gallons of water into a barrel, tie up 6 lbs. of 



