60 HISTORY AND CAUSE OF THE COCONUT BUD-EOT. 



to maintain successful plantations, while in other districts neglect of 

 the trees has led to their entire destruction. 



In 1908 the Government of Cuba appropriated $14,000 to assist 

 in eradicating the disease. Owing partly to the failure to come to an 

 agreement as to the method of work and partly to the lack of some 

 one well enough acquainted with the disease to oversee the project, 

 nothing has as yet been accomplished. Investigators themselves 

 are by no means agreed as to the best method of eradication. The 

 common practice at present is to cut down the diseased tree and, after 

 heaping dry leaves about the crown, to set fire to it. This is fahly 

 satisfactory except that the fallen trunk forms an objectionable ob- 

 stacle and serves as a breeding place for many insects. Another 

 method recommended is to bury the diseased top with quicklime. 

 Burial presents a task too difficult, if one takes as much of the crown 

 as is necessary to destroy all of the infected parts. Other disinfect- 

 ants have been recommended for application to the crown as it lies on 

 the ground, but none of these have much value, owing to the difficulty 

 of penetrating to the center of the decayed parts. Personally, the 

 writer is of the opinion that the crown should be cut off as the tree 

 stands and then destroyed. This plan presents no such obstacles as 

 may on the face of it appear, and it has the added advantage that the 

 crown can be entirely burned, leaving no debris to litter the ground or 

 furnish breeding places for insects. The bare trunk left standing 

 would serve as a breeding place for insects to only a very limited extent, 

 since it would remain fairly dry and exposed to all the sunlight and 

 wind — conditions very different from those existing when the trunk lies 

 on the damp ground in the grass and rotting leaves. To be sure, to fell 

 the tree is much the easier method of procedure, but the other way 

 takes only 30 minutes or less with the proper tools. A native can 

 ascend the tree in his bare feet, and with his machete or cutlass quickly 

 lop off aU the leaves close down to the heart. If the rot extends below 

 the heart, it would be advisable to pour over its surface a pint or so of 

 coal oil and then set fire to it. The writer has himself ascended trees 

 15 or 20 meters high by the aid of an electrician's climbers and then 

 removed the leaves with a small, sharp, hand ax. When a planter 

 has only a half-dozen or two dozen trees to destroy, tliis method seems 

 to be far the best, because it leaves the ground free from any large 

 obstacles. If, on the other hand, several hundred or a thousand 

 diseased trees are to be destroyed as soon as possible, it may be desir- 

 able to feU the trees and then burn the tops, afterwards obtaining a 

 two-wheeled rig to draw the logs to one side of the grove where they 

 may be placed in a heap and made the center of a fire, or covered with 

 lime or heaped over with earth. The expense of this work would be 

 excessive for a few trees, but in the case of many it most certainly 



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