276 



THE AGRICULTURAL XEV.'S. 



Septembee 4, 1909. 



WEST INDIAN FRUIT. 



THE BUD-ROT OF COCOA-NUT PALMS. 



The bud-rot (fever) of cocoa-nut palms has already 

 been treated of in several publications of the Depart- 

 ment, including the Agricultural News, Vol. IV, pp. 

 299, 309, and 'Vol. VI, p. 75, and the WeM Indian 

 Bulletin, Vol. VI, pp. 807-21, Vol. IX, pp. 379-81. In 

 the former volume of the Bulletin a very complete 

 account of the literature on the subject is given. In 

 Circular No. 36 of the Bureau of Plant Industry, 

 United States Department of Agriculture, entitled 

 The Bad-rot of the Cocoa-nut Palm, and issued 

 July 9, 1909, the present position in regard to the 

 disease is reviewed, and assistance toward the study of 

 the disease is asked for. 



Notes in regard tri the bud-rot of cocoa-nut [lalnis have 

 appeared in various publications in recent years, but it may 

 not be generally known that, apparently, this same disease 

 destroyed many cocoa-nut groves in the Provinces of ilatan- 

 zas and Havana, Cuba, as early as 1886. A long report on 

 the disease was published at Havana in 1882. Its occurrence 

 was reported in Baracoa, on the eastern end of the island, in 

 1888, and according to the natives, it was pre.sent at least ten 

 years before that time. In 1834 a similar disease was 

 reported from the Cayman Islands, and in 1876 from Ibitish 

 Guiana. Today, what ap|)areiitly is one and the same 

 disease, the bud-rot, occurs in nearly all the cocoa-nut growing 

 regions of tropical America. 



From time to time serious diseases of the cocoa-nut 

 palm have been reported from different parts of the world and 

 bave been variously attributed to soil or atmospheric (condi- 

 tions, to in.sects, fungi, etc., and it is not at all imi)rob- 

 able that various environments and organisms may bring 

 about diseased conditions in the palm. It is ([uite certain, 

 however, that in many cases these diseases, snpiiosodly 

 distinct, are all alike in that they e.xhibit a putrid condition 

 of the crown, though this condition has been attributed to 

 divers causes. It is now generally admitted tliat the rot of 

 the crown in the district of Baracoa is caused by bacteria. 

 A published description of a disease said to be of fungous 

 origin in the Havana district corresporids exactly to the 

 Baracoa disease. In the i.sland of Trinidad many of the 

 trees said to be primarily diseased by a root-rot have all the 

 symptoms of the bud-rot. It can not be stated positively 

 that there is not a distinct root-rot or a fungous di.sease, but 

 the writer believes that the most destructive of the cocoa-nut 

 troubles of tropical .America is of the type fourul in liaracoa, 



( 'uba. Personal examination of trees in Cuba, .Jamaica, 

 Trinidad and British Guiana has ottered convincing evidence 

 of this. 



The problem of identifyitig the disease is of increasing 

 interest from the fact that for some j'ears a serious disease 

 of cocoa-nut palms has been reported from eastern countries. 

 Of recent years these reports have described the disease as 

 similar to that occurring in Cuba. Many of the reports, 

 however, have claimed that it is caused by fungi, and have 

 niade no comparison with the Cuban form. 



In Ceylon and in the Philippines, the disease has been 

 likened to the bud-rot. In India thousands of cocoa-nut 

 trees have been lost, but, according to rejwrt.s, owing to 

 fungous attacks. The description of the disease, however, 

 corresponds in every way to the bud-rot. Descriptions of 

 the destruction of palms in German East Africa, and in 

 Portuguese East Africa also coincide with reports of similar 

 ravages of the bud-rot. 



As yet there is no satisfactory means of controlling this 

 disease. Should the so-called bud-rot be found to occur in 

 Africa, India, and the Philippines, as well as in' tropical 

 America, it will then put the investigators on a more satis- 

 factory basis for their work. 



If the di.sease.is bacterial, it may be that soil conditions 

 or climatic changes are important factors in its spi'cad in 

 a virulent form. If these conditions be determined, it may 

 possibly be found that the only solution of the pi-oblem of 

 identifying the disease is to obtain some variety either better 

 adi.pteil to local conditions or perhaps actually re-sistant to 

 the bacterial attacks. It would be a long step toward this 

 to ascertain definitely what countries are free from, and what 

 countries are attlicted with, a rot of the crown of the palm, 

 whatever may be thought to be the cause. If the investi- 

 gators at the ditt'erent stations will bear this in mind, it will 

 aid in .solving the problem of controlling one of the most 

 balHing and destructive of trojjical diseases. 



The writer has in preparation a full account of his 

 investigations of the disease throughout the 'West Indies, and 

 will be glad to receive for comparison [ihotographs or 

 alcoholic material. 



It might be well to mention the symptoms of the 

 disease. Those are : the turning yellow of the outer 

 leaves, which ultimately hang straight down : the fact 

 that the youngest leaves do not unfold properly, bub 

 stand upright, becoming first yellow and then brown in 

 colour: the presence in the softer, inner parts of the 

 bud, of rotten, evil-smelling tissues. 



