34 HISTORY AND CAUSE OF THE COCONUT BUD-EOT. 



After investigating the diseased trees of Trinidad the writer went 

 to Demerara, British Guiana, and there, \Ndth the help of the former 

 superintendent of the Botanical Gardens, ^Mr, A, H. Bartlett, carried 

 on studies of the disease in that region. Coconut palnis occur scat- 

 tered along the coast. They are found chiefly on the islands in the 

 mouth of the Essequibo River and on the adjacent mainland, and 

 in the southern part of Demerara, near Maliaica and Mahaicony. 

 The islands of the Essequibo River are merely sand drifts which have 

 been overgrown with vegetation. These have been partly cleared 

 and on them coconut palms are grown. A disease has been reported 

 from this locaUty, and from a personal examination of the trees 

 externally the writer is incUned to think that it is the bud-rot; but 

 the cases are comparatively few. At various intervals along the rail- 

 way from the Essequibo to Georgetown and from Georgetown south- 

 east to Mahaicony, which is largely a coconut district, there appeared 

 isolated cases of what seemed to be the same disease. This entire 

 coast line is at the level or below the level of the sea at high tide, so 

 that sea defenses are built and canals are maintained with pumping 

 stations for proper irrigation and drainage of the land. Under such 

 circumstances the meadows are for the most part wet and partly 

 under water. Much of the land is too wet for the coconut palm. 

 A considerable number of diseased trees, some of which could be 

 definitely said to have bud-rot, were found at Mahaicony. On one 

 estate on which the soil was rather heavy and poorly drained certain 

 trees were selected for examination. They were the only affected 

 ones on the estate. All of them showed the typical conditions — the 

 central leaf bud dead or dry, and low down in the crown a typical soft 

 rot. Insects were present, to be sure, as is usually the case, but in no 

 such numbers as to connect them directly with the disease. 



The coconut industry of British Guiana is still on a rather small 

 scale, owing chiefly to the fact that the land is more suitable and more 

 valuable for sugar planting. In 1877 the exports amounted to 

 1,500,000 nuts, while now they are only 500,000 per year. The 

 presence of this disease, though not very virulent in form, probably 

 discourages more planting of coconuts under conditions which are 

 also otherwise unfavorable for their growth, i. e., a heavy soil to- 

 gether with an excessive quantity of water present. 



The island of Porto Rico as one of our possessions has been of great 

 interest to us, especially as no disease of the coconuts appears to be 

 present. The coconut industry of the island, although far below 

 the value of that of sugar cane and tobacco, is of considerable im- 

 portance and is by all means worthy of protection and extension. 

 The fact that the bud-rot disease is so prevalent in nearly all the 

 coconut-growing regions of tropical America, in regions not far 



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