A FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW 



OF THE 



IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES. 



LIBRAR> 



NEW YOR 



BOTANIC/ 



UAKDEN 



Vol VI [, No. i. 



BARBADOS, MAECH 7, 1908. 



Price Id. 



CONTENTS. 



Pa 



Agaves and Sidl Denud.i- 



tioii 



Agncultimvl Ediicatiuii in 



EUMiieiitaiy St-hduls ... 

 Blitish Guiana, AgiicuUnie 



in 



Rriti.sli Hdiiduras, Agri- 



ciilUiial Industries nf... 

 Cacai) Expeviiiieiits in llie 



West Indie.s 



Cacao Pests of Trinidad ... 

 Cassava Refuse as 8tofi; 



Fond 



Citrus Fruits ill Culia 

 Cofi'ee I'mduction in Bra/.il 

 ■Cotton Notes :— 



Catch Crops with Cotti^n 

 Montserrat, Cotton 



Industry at 



St. Lucia, Cotton Culfiva- 



tion in 



Sea Island Cotton Market 

 West Indian Cotf.jn 

 Departmental Iteports : — 

 St. Kitt's-Nevis ;15otanie 



Station, etc , V.M)-7... 

 St. Lucia ; Botanic 



Station, etc., 1906-7... 



Department News 



Dominica, Prosperity of ... 



Root Disease of Sugar-cane. 



oc 



OOT disease is probably the most important 

 among; the fungoid diseases of sugar-cane 

 in the West Indies. It is fully described, 

 with illustration, in 'Diseases of the Sugar-cane,' 



(Pamphlet 29 issued by the Imperial Department of 

 ^ Ao-riculture). The disease has been especially preva- 

 ^ lent in Barbados during the past two seasons, when the 

 Mthcr conditions have been too dry to be favourable 



cc 



■<r to a vigorous growth of the cane. 



Root disease, caused by attack of the fungus 

 Marasrnnis Sttcchari, was first reported from Java in 

 189.5. The same fungus was, some six or seven years 

 latci-, recognized as being chiefly, if not entirely 

 responsible for similar trouble in the West Indies. 

 Root disease of the sugar-cane has also been described 

 from Hawaii, and more recently from Louisiana. 



It is evident, therefore, that this disease is widely 

 spread throughout sugar-producing countries. The 

 question of the best methods of combating attack is 

 one of first iiiiportance, ;ind is receiving considerable 

 attention at the hands of both jiraclical and scientific 

 men. 



As already mentioned, the sugar-cane crop of 

 Barbados has suffered considerably from attack during 

 the past two seasons, and in 190G sugar planters in the 

 Couva district of Trinidad reported the occurrence of 

 a disease, which was causing considerable datnasre 

 among their crops. Specimens were forwarded for 

 examination to the Imperial Departinent of Agriculture, 

 and it appeared that ^1/. Saccliar't was respon- 

 sible for the greater portion of the damage noticed. 



Root disease of the sugar-cane was some years ago 

 very prevalent in Antigua, but ti-.e general opinion of 

 planters of that island, as elicited by Dr. Watts in 

 1906, was that very little disease existed in the island 

 at that time. Dr. Watts himself, however, 's of opinion 

 that the root fungus is more widely distribut.d than is 

 generally imagined, and that the insidious naf.ure of 

 attack of the root fungus leads planters to overlook its 

 existence excejit in bad cases. He points out that v^ry 

 often the crop may be seriously lessened by th':; 

 presence of root fungus without any appreciable 

 amount of dead cane being seen. 



