CAUSES OTHER THAN BACILLUS COLI. 149 



disease is tluo to fun<j;i ami the bud-rot to bacteria, claiming in tlic 

 case of the root disease that the rotted crown was secondary to tlie dis- 

 eased root, but admitted the possibility in tlie case of tlie bud-rot 

 that bacteria were the primary cause of the trouble. No experiments 

 were made to prove either the fungous or bacterial nature of either 

 disease. In view of the investigations of the writer, it must be 

 admitted that there have been in Trinidad some diseases answering 

 to Stockdale's description of root disease. As noted on page 33, 

 there were a few cases at Guapo which seemed to correspond to this 

 malady. On the other hand, the trouble in Ijaventille and Point 

 d'Or (pp. 31-33), so far as the writer could ascertain, was entirely due 

 to bud-rot. That fungous infection might easily take place in the 

 root when the crown is affected is admitted, but it must be denied 

 that the cases of rot in the crown in these two districts were cases in 

 wliich the rot was secondary and the root disease ])rimary. Actual 

 investigation of the tissues of several trees typically diseased revealed 

 a bacterial rot in the crown and no signs of the root disease. Wliat 

 was true for those trees examined may well be assumed to be true 

 for all the other trees showing exactly similar symptoms. 



Mr. Stockdale states ^ that in a tree affected wnth root disease 

 "it is only a question of time before the terminal bud falls over and 

 becomes a putrid mass, and the palm eventually dies." However, 

 he qualifies this statement in a footnote,^ as follows: 



When a cocoaniit palm is affected by any disease or pest, the terminal bud, in the 

 advanced stages, becomes involved in a rot. This must not be confused with 

 "bud-rot." 



These remarks would indicate that their author was not very clear 

 on his subject. In the first place, the statement that 'Svhen a 

 cocoanut palm is alTected by any disease or pest, the terminal bud, in 

 the advanced stage, becomes involved in a rot" is a most sweeping 

 one to make and is not confirmed by any explanatory notes or 

 experiments. Moreover, the statement is misleading, causing one 

 to think that the ultimate rot is due to the disease or pest, whereas 

 it can only mean that when the tree is so alTected or diseased 

 that it dies, then the crown rots, quite as is the case mth any 

 dead vegetable tissues when suiTicient moisture is present, and this is 

 a truism. Furthermore, this note, taken in connection ^viih. the 

 preceding statement in describing the root disease, to the effect that 

 "it is only a question of time before the terminal bud falls over and 

 becomes a putrid mass," is still more misleading. 



That diseased coconut trees will rot when they die anyone Avill 

 admit, but that the terminal bud falls over and becomes a putrid 



1 stockdale, F. A. Coconut Palm Disease. Trinidad Royal Gazette, Feb. 14, 1907, p. 3.50. 

 228 



