Vol. VIII. No. 199. 



THE AGRICULTmiAL NEWS. 



395 



FUNGUS NOTES. 



A COFFEE DISEASE OF THE NEW WORLD. 



In No. 8 of the current volume of the Kew Bulletin 

 there is an article by Mr. !Massee on a disease of coffee 

 due to a fungus known as Spnueroi^tLlhc far ida, and 

 it is largely from this article that the following account 

 is taken. A short description of the same disease has 

 already appeared on page 292 of the current volume of 

 the Agricultural Xt'wn: — 



The fungus in question attacks the young leaves, stems, 

 and fruits of the coft'ee, forming circular whitish patches 

 on the leaves about ^-inch in diameter. When the 

 attack is severe, the leaves may all fall within a month 

 of the first appearance of the disease. The bushes then 

 appear heavily loaded with fruit, but without leaves. On 

 the stem the patches are elongated, and eventually the cortex 

 flakes off, and leaves the brown wood exposed. On the berries 

 the spots are nearly circular in outline. As a rule, only two 

 spots occur on each berry. On these spots the first fruiting 

 form of the fungus appears. It takes the shape of minute, 

 yellow, transparent, pin-shaped bodies. These consist of 

 a long stalk of hyphae, whose terminal cells are swollen, and 

 together form the pin's head. From each of these swollen 

 cells spring several slender- simply, or but little-branched 

 conidiophores, each of which bears a single conidium at its 

 apex. This form of fruit was formerly known as Stilhiim, or 

 StilheUa flai'ida. Later on, an ascigerous form of the fungus 

 .appears. This consists of light-red, ovate perithecia crowded 

 together on a stroma. The perithecia more or less resemble 

 those of species of Nectria which causes the canker disease of 

 cacao. In fact, the genus Spluterosf ilhe is closely allied to 

 Nectria. 



It was found, from careful experiments, that the conidia 

 produced in the first form of fructification were totally unable 

 to infect the leaves of coffee plants, even when the latter were 

 ■wounded, but similar experiments with the ascospores caused 

 infection after thirteen days. Apparently, the ascigerous 

 form of the fruit is not produced on the leaves, probably 

 owing to insufficient nutrition, and is only formed on the 

 stems and fruit. 



The conidia would not germinate when placed in various 

 nutrient media, and this fact, in connexion with their inabil- 

 ity to infect the leaf, would seem to indicate that they have 

 hecome effete. Consequently, the fungus can only spread by 

 means of the ascospores, or through pieces of diseased 

 material coming into contact with healthy plants. 



As remedial measures, therefore, the following should be 

 adopted : — 



(1) All diseased branches should be removed and burned. 



(2) All diseased fruit and leaves, whether fallen or on 

 the tree, should be collected and burned, or buried with lime. 

 The difficulty of collecting the fallen portions can be con- 

 siderably reduced if the lower .shoots of the bushes are 

 always removed. This practice further benefits the plants 

 by permitting proper aeration of the soil. 



The fungus also occurs on numerous other plants besides 

 coffee, and a careful watch should be kept for its appearance 

 on bushes or trees in the neighbourhood of the cofi'ee planta- 

 tion. Any such plants showing signs of the di.sease should 

 "be immediately destroyed. 



The disease has caused very serious damage in several 

 of the States of South America, and is reported from a few of 

 the West Indian islands. The ascigerous condition of this 

 fungus has only recently been discovered by Mr. Massee, and 



the account contained in the Kew Jlulktin is the first one 

 that has been published, though the conidial form has long 

 been known. 



The disease is, as yet, of very little importance in these 

 islands, though from what has been said, it will be readily 

 apparent that a careful watch should be maintained in all 

 places where coftee is grown to any considerable extent. 



THE NUTRITION OF ANIMALS. 

 The first of a series of research bulletins issued by 

 the University of Wisconsin Agricultural Experiment 

 Station has recently been received. It is entitled The 

 Role of Tiioiyanti- Pliii.<:pliiir'j.s in the Nutrition of 

 Animuls, and gives an account of experiments which 

 have led to the following conclusions: — 



(1) On a ration extremely low in phosphorus, pigs 

 made as large gains, up to 7-5 or 100 &., when starting at 

 weights of from 40 to 50 lb., as animals receiving an 

 abundance of this element. , After reaching this point, loss of 

 weight Ijegan, followed by collapse. 



(2) When such low phosiihorus rations as induced the 

 above symptoms were sui)i)lemented \\'ith calcium phiisphates, 

 no untoward results appeared. Animals fed on a low pho.s- 

 phonis ration, supplemented with inorganic phosphates, made 

 as vigorous a development as others receiving their phosphorus 

 supply wholly in organic form. 



(3) Precipitated calcium phosphates — a mixture of 

 di- and tri-calcium i)hosphates gave no better results than did 

 Hoats, a crude tricalciuni phosphate. 



(4) Phytin as the su|iply of phosphorus gave no better 

 results than the inorganic phosphates. 



(.5) A young animal of 40 lb. weight receiving inorganic 

 phosphates, together with other salts as supplementary to 

 a ration very low in mineral constituents, grew to be an 

 animal of 280 tt). weight, bore a litter of fairly vigorous pigs, 

 which, on the same ration, completed the cycle back to 80 lb., 

 while animals on the same ration, less the inorganic phos- 

 phates, collapsed in three months with loss of weight accom- 

 panied by a loss of the use of their limbs. 



(6) Determinations of calcium and phosphorus in the 

 principal organs and ti.ssues of the animals on the low 

 phosphorus ration showed that they maintained the propor- 

 tion of these elements constant and comparable to that of 

 normally fed pigs. 



(7) The percentage of ash in the skeleton of pigs on the 

 depleted phosphorus ration was reduced to nearly one-half 

 that of pigs receiving a normal ration, or a phosphorus-poor 

 ration supplemented by an inorganic phosphate. 



(8) The marked reduction in the quantity of ash of the 

 bones of the animal receiving an insufficient supply of calcium 

 phosphates, together with the ability of the animal to build 

 up a skeleton very rich in calcium phosphate when an abun- 

 dance of the latter is .supplied in inorganic forms, strongly 

 points to the possession of a synthetic power by the animal, 

 which enables it to convert inoi'ganic forms of phosphorus 

 into the organic forms demanded by its body. 



(9) When the animals were starving for phosphorus, 

 they drew this element from the skeleton, but removed 

 calcium and phosphorus in the proportions found in tri- 

 calcium phosphate. 



(10) The daily phosphorus supply for a 50-lb. growing 

 pig should be at least 3 grams. A supply of 4 to .0 grams 

 is probably a safer quantity. 



(11) The data furnish no positive evidence of the synthe- 

 sis of nucleo-proteids or other organic phosphorus-bearing 

 complexes from inorganic phosphates in the animal body. 



