GENERAL DISTRIBUTION OF THE DISEASE. 



15 



a dozen or so trees every year. The total loss for Jamaica per year 

 at present is probably small, but the fact that the bud-rot occurs 

 there and requires constant watching indicates a dangerous condition. 

 Mr. W. Fawcett, former director of the Botanical Gardens at 

 Kingston, reports as follows: 



I have visited Montego Bay to examine into the death on a large scale of coconut 

 palms in that neighborhood. * * * Several trees were cut down and the roots, stem, 

 leaves, and cabbage examined. There waa no evidence whatever of attacks by a 

 beetle. There were some small larvae, some wood lice, earwigs, ants of several species, 

 and other insects on the affected parts, but they were evidently only preying on the 

 diseased juices, and were not the cause of the disease. * * * 



The youngest parts were those affected. The leaves and flowers in the bud were 

 sometimes able, though affected, to withstand the disease so far as to open out, and 

 some leaves and nuts attained almost their full development before the tree suc- 

 cumbed. In the case of tall trees the first indication of the disease was the dropping 

 of the young fruit. * * * 



If the terminal bud in the cabbage is affected, the tree is doomed. 



Fig. 2.— Map of Jamaica. The dots show the location of coconut groves, and the heavily shaded 



portions indicate diseased areas. 



In almost all the trees examined the sour smell of a putrefactive fermentation was 

 very noticeable, and I am of the opinion that the disease is due to an organized ferment 

 which is able to attack the very tender tissues of the youngest parts, even outside the 

 terminal bud. If this ferment can be destroyed by fire or other means before it 

 reaches the terminal bud in the heart of the cabbage the tree may be saved. ^ 



Cayman Islands. — In the Cayman Islands, midway between 

 Jamaica and Cuba, the bud-rot has raged for some time. The 

 industry has been practically destroyed on Grand Cayman. Mr. 

 W. Fawcett reports: 



Disease has for several years blighted the palms in Grand Cayman. * * * No 

 accurate information could be obtained from the people as to the first appearance of 

 the disease; some said it was 15 years ago, others, again, thought it might have been 

 40 years. In a dispatch from the Marquis of Sligo in 1834 he mentions that all the 

 coconuts of the leeward side had been destroyed, but that the infection had not reached 



I Fawcett. W. Report on the Coco-nut Disease at Montego Bay. 

 Jamaica, September, 1891, p. 2. 



228 



Bulletin 23, Botanical Department of 



