14 HISTORY AND CAUSE OF THE COCONUT BUD-ROT. 



than likely that the disease was no other than the bud-rot, and from 

 the fact that the notes of Galvez and of Pmo apply to adjacent dis- 

 tricts it may reasonably be supposed that they were speakmg of the 

 same disease. More recent mvestigations by Mr. August Busck and 

 Dr. Erwin F. Smith, both of this Department, and a little later b}^ the 

 staff of the Estacion Agronomica at Santiago de las Vegas, deal with 

 the present occurrence of the disease. Mr. Busck,^ in 1901, reported 

 as follows on the disease in the Baracoa district: 



There were no diseased palms in the immediate neighborhood of Baracoa, but going 

 out some 10 miles east and along the coast, yellow, drooping tops and naked trunks 

 began to appear; and still farther out around Mata and neighboring towns, the disease 

 reached its highest development. Here large areas were attacked, and already from 

 10 to neai-ly 100 per cent of the trees were lost. 



Dr. Smith studied the disease in 1904 and reported as follows: 



The disease has made decided advances since it was studied by Mr. Busck in 1901, 

 especially at Mata, and if it continues to spread as it has done dui'ing the past 10 years 

 it will inevitably destroy the coconut industry of the island, and that, too, within the 

 next 10 or 15 years. Already many of the planters are discouraged and are not setting 

 any more trees, since it now attacks trees of all ages, including quite young ones, and 

 those on the hills as well as those close to the sea.^ 



In their papers on the subject Mr. Busck and Dr. Smith describe 

 the nature of the disease m such detail as to render it certain that it 

 was the bud-rot which they were studymg. 



In the Primer Informe Anual de la Estacion Central Agronomica 

 de Cuba, 1905, on page 195, there appears the following: 



Esta enfermedad se presenta en la Provincia de la Habana, y se nos ha dado cuenta 

 de que existe en otros varias localidades, probablemente afecta d toda la Isla. 



In this quotation there is no direct mention of the bud-rot, but 

 further on in the article the disease is described as the bud-rot iden- 

 tical mth that in eastern Cuba. According to this evidence the 

 disease is now present in the Province of Havana. 



A former pathologist of the Estacion Central Agonomica and the 

 wTiter have carried on investigations more recently, and their work 

 will be discussed more fully further on. 



Jamaica. — In Jamaica the coconut region is proportionately more 

 extensive than in Cuba, the only districts where there are no large 

 groves being in the interior and on the south coast (fig. 2). For- 

 tunatel}'', the disease is serious only in the extreme western end of the 

 island, in the district between Savanna la Mar and Montego Ba}" and 

 a little beyond. It is not greatly feared by those planters who keep 

 watch of their groves, although even with the utmost care many lose 



> Busck, August. Report on the In\'estigations of Diseased Cocoanut Palms in Cuba. Bulletin 38, 

 n. s., Bureau of Entomology, U. S. Dept. of AgricuJture, 1902, pp. 20-23. 



2 Smith, Envin F. The Bud Rot of the Coconut Palm in the West Indies. Science, u.s., vol. 21, 1905, 

 pp. 500-502. 



228 



