18 



HISTORY AND CAUSE OF THE COCONUT BUD-EOT. 



From this same colony comes the following report : 



Travelers on the East Coast Railway can hardly have failed to notice the unhealthy 

 appearance of many of the coconut trees which form so conspicuous a feature of the 

 district from Mahaicony onwards to Belladrum. The drooping leaves, and yellow 

 crowns, the "bare poles" of dead palms in too many cases point to disease of a 

 widespread and malignant nature.* 



So far as authentic reports or personal investigations are concerned 

 there is no note of the further occurrence of the disease in the West 

 Indies or tropical America. Three different travelers have, however, 

 reported to the writer a disease of coconuts in both Haiti and the 

 Dominican Republic similar in general aspect to the Cuban disease. 

 Another traveler reports it from the Mexican coast south of Vera Cruz. 

 A captain of a schooner engaged in collecting coconuts at Baracoa 



Fig. 4.— Map of a portion of British Guiana. The dots show the location of coconut groves and the 



heavily shaded parts Indicate diseased areas. 



clauned to the writer that he had seen what appeared to be the same 

 disease on the San Bias coast of Panama, where the best nuts are 

 obtained. 



Although it does not appear to occur in Porto Rico, it is prevalent 

 in all of the very important sources of coconuts in the West Indies 

 and the adjacent coasts. 



EASTERN TROPICS. 



Diseases of coconuts in the Eastern Hemisphere have been known 

 and investigated for some years, but it is only recently that one 

 similar to the bud-rot of the West Indies has been reported. So far 

 as known there have been no comparisons by photographs or by 



» Leechman, Alleyne. The Radical Cure of Infectious Plant Diseases. 

 Agriculture of British Guiana, vol. 2, no. 3, January, 1909, pp. 104-106. 

 228 



Journal of the Board of 



