76 



of rubber extraction, requiring a certain number of new trees to be 

 planted each year and making provision for official inspection, &c. 

 Recently about all of the productive State lands so far dis- 

 covered, have been leased, but this does not prevent some one 

 other than the lessee from purchasing the land at any time, thus 

 summarily terminating the lease. For this reason I would advise 

 only purchase of land outright, especially since the land can be 

 bought at a very reasonable figure. 



DISEASES OF TOMATOES. 



Bacterial Disease. 



The following is the report of the Mycologist of the Imperial 

 Department of Agriculture for the West Indies on a bacterial dis- 

 ease of tomatoes, published in the Agricultural News : — 



Microscopic examination of the diseased tissues points to the 

 disease being of bacterial origin. Such a disease, caused by Ba- 

 cillus solanacearum, has been reported from several localities in the 

 United States. 



The first prominent indication of the disease is the sudden wilt- 

 ing of the foliage, which may occur first on a single shoot, but 

 finally affects the whole plant. 



.^^Subsequently, if the plant is young and not very woody, the 

 stem shrivels, changing to a yellowish green and finally to brown 

 or black. The vascular bundles become brown before the shrivel- 

 ling takes place. The organism attacks the parenchyma of the 

 pith and bark, converting nearly the whole interior of soft stems 

 into a mass of broken-down cells mixed with bacteria. The host 

 plants are tomato, potato, and egg-plant, possibly also other sola- 

 naceous plants. Insects are largely responsible for the spread of 

 the disease. 



As preventive measures, the destruction of all leaf-eating and 

 leaf-puncturing insects is the first thing to be considered. Early 

 and complete removal of diseased plants, rotation of crops and 

 selection of seed from plants grown where the disease is not pre- 

 valent are other suggestions of possible value in preventing the 

 spread of the disease. 



Sleepy Disease. 



A leaflet of the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries, London, on 

 the " Sleepy Disease" of tomatoes, {Fusarium lycopersici) is re- 

 printed below : — 



Description and appearance of Plants attacked. 



The plant may be diseased inside when quite young, but the 

 outward manifestations do not necessarily appear at once. 

 The first indication that the tomato is affected is shown in the 

 drooping of the leaves and their bad colour. If the root is split 



