TTTE DISEASE TN THE WEST TNDFES. 25 



inclosing the floral organs. Those all eventually became putrid, the 

 leaves fell, and the tree finality died. Great quantities of bacteria, 

 as well as fungi, were found in the affected tissues. Mr. Hart did not 

 commit himself as to the cause of the trouble, but forwarded some of 

 the material to the Imperial Department at Bar})ados, whence it was 

 sent to the Department of Agriculture at Washington. Here the 

 writer had the opportunity of examining it, and ho is able to corrobo- 

 rate Mr. Hart's statement that the growing point was full of bacteria. 

 From the particular specimens of Mr. Ifart's material which are now 

 preserved in the Laboratory of Plant Pathology at Washington micro- 

 tome sections have been made and these demonstrate clearly numer- 

 ous bacteria in the tissues and no signs whatever of a fungus. 



During the latter part of July and the first of August, 1906, Mr. 

 F. A. Stockdale, then mycologist of the Imperial Department of 

 Agriculture, visited Trinidad and investigated the coconut diseases 

 over the entire island. He reported on the same district that Mr. 

 Hart investigated the preceding year, but contrary' to Mr. Hart he 

 found that the greatest number of diseased trees were injured pri- 

 marily by a fungus rather than by bacteria. He investigated two 

 maladies which completely destroyed the palms, one of which he 

 called the " root disease " and the other the " bud-rot. " He described 

 the root disease as one in which the trunk shows a red discoloration 

 toward the outside for a considerable portion of its length, while the 

 decayed roots and the petioles are infected with a fungus which he 

 considered as belonging to the genus Botryodiplodium. Eventually, 

 when the vitality of the tree has been reduced, the terminal bud 

 becomes involved in a soft rot, and the putrid mass then falls over and 

 the tree dies. In describing the bud-rot, Stockdale says the roots 

 appeared to be healthy and the stems showed no signs of discolora- 

 tion, but the bud was involved in a vile sort of bacterial rot and even- 

 tually fell over. In the advancing margin of the rot usually there 

 were only bacteria, but in a few cases there was some fungous 

 mycelium. Mr. Stockdale concluded that the root disease was due 

 to a fungus and the bud-rot to bacteria. In no case, however, did he 

 make any infection experiments to prove the correctness of his 

 theories. According to his descriptions, the tree suffering from the 

 root disease differs from that affected by the bud-rot only in having 

 a discolored trunk, diseased roots, and affected petioles, the rotted 

 bud being common to both cases. 



Mr. O. W. Barrett, in 1907, reported that of the diseased trees of 

 the island about 95 per cent were affected with the root disease 

 reported by Mr. Stockdale and onl}' a very few cases were affected by 

 bud-rot. Unfortunately no notes are given as to the appearance of 



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