GENERAL DISTRIBUTION OF THE DISEASE. 19 



s})ccimons of the biul-rot from both regions, nor lias any investigator 

 of tlie one region visited the otiier, a procedure eminently desirable 

 to establish fully the ])robable fact that this destructive disease is 

 present in all parts of the tropical world. 



Philippine Islands. — In the Philippines the disease is present in 

 several provinces and reported * to be very destructive. 



The bud-rot is at present very prevalent in I.azaan, Sungi, and Ylaya. It is present, 

 but does less damage, in two other of the upper barrios of Lilio. There are a few 

 scattered cases in Balanacan and Sinipian, barrios of Nagcarlan, and probably in 

 Pagsauitan and elsewhere. * * * Capt. Grove has heard that many years ago 

 it practically wiped out the coconut industry of Lucban, and I have been told that 

 it was very destructive about five years ago in Sariaya. * * * 



In the badly infested districts there are patches where almost every tree is smitten 

 and larger ones where fully half of the trees are dead or dying. * * * 



The disease attacks the soft, undifferentiated tissue of growing points. * * * 

 As soon as the youngest leaf is noticeably discolored it can easily be drawn out. 

 * * * The decaying tissue has a powerful and vile odor. The stench is very 

 characteristic. 



Ceylon.— In Ceylon an infection apparently identical with the 

 bud-rot of the West Indies destroyed the young trees on a small 

 estate but spread no farther. An investigator reported that bud- 

 rot, apparently identical with the West Indian disease, appeared in a 

 small native estate early in the year. The place was visited and 

 the diseased trees cut out.^ 



According to Copeland,^ Fetch of Ceylon found in a small isolated 

 patch of 10 acres, including some 800 trees, 50 that were dead or 

 dying. The diseased trees were 3 or 4 years old. Their condition is 

 described as follows: 



The first indication of the disease (in the case of young plants) is the withering 

 of the youngest imfolding leaf. This turns brown and can be pulled out of its sheath; 

 it is then found to end in a soft brown mass. * * * If the dying fronds are removed 

 and the bud exposed there will be found instead of the white cabbage a pale brown 

 semiliquid mass. * * * The organisms responsible for this decay are bacteria 

 which are found in abundance in the rotting tissues; they are short, thick rods with 

 rounded ends which form whitish colonies of slow growth on sugar agar. 



India.— It is probable that the bud-rot occurs also in India proper, 



accordmg to the following: 



Some time ago the occurrence was reported of a coconut pest in the shape of a fungus 

 which was eating into the vitals of the coconut palm in North Travancore.'* 



> Copeland, E. B. Bud rot of the Coconut. Philippine Agricultural Review, vol. 1, no. 5, May, 

 1908, pp. 210-220. 



' Hart, J. H. Diseases of Cacao, Coconut, Rubber, etc. Extract from the Report of the Botanical 

 Department, Ceylon (Society paper 264). Proceedings of the Agricultural Society of Trinidad and 

 TobagO; vol. 7, 1907, pp. 179-193. 



3 Copeland, E. B. Op. cit., pp. 210-220. 



* See "Fungus Disease of Coconuts," in Tropical Agriculturist, vol. 21, February, 1905, p. 556. 



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