152 HISTOEY AND CAUSE OF THE COCONUT BUD-EOT. 



by a coconut planter or by an investigator, and the cause of such 



symptoms is asked, it seems reasonably safe to state that they 



represent a case of bud-rot and are caused by bacterial action. Such 



has been the basis in discussing on other pages of this paper many 



American reports of coconut-palm diseases that have not been 



personally investigated by the writer. Reports of the disease in 



the Eastern Hemisphere are discussed on the same basis. If there 



is a fair reasonableness in doing this with the coconut palm it does 



not seem at all beyond reason strongly to suspect similar symptoms 



of disease in other palms to be due to a similar cause. Such is the 



point of view in discussing the occurrence of the disease on other 



palms. 



OCCURRENCE OF THE DISEASE ON OTHER PALMS. 



It is not loiown positively at present wli ether or not this bud-rot 

 occurs on other palms than the coconut. Information on the sub- 

 ject is extremely desirable. In Cuba a disease of the royal palm has 

 been noted for some time. Mr. Horne,^ in 1 908, wrote in regard to 

 it as follows: 



The royal palms on the high limestone ridge back of Baracoa were in bad condition 

 and some of them were dying. A similar condition was observed at Banes and at vari- 

 ous places, in some of which no bud-rot was known to exist. * * * If royal palms 

 are attacked it is so rarely that probably there is no practical importance to be attached 

 to the matter. 



The writer has noted dead and dying royal palms near Baracoa 

 during the past three years. There were not, however, more than 

 15 or 20, nor did the diseased trees have just the appearance of coco- 

 nut trees affected with the bud-rot. In the royal palm the central 

 leaves remained healthy longest, while the surrounding leaves gradu- 

 ally turned browm and fell off. 



In the summer and fall of 1910 the writer had an opportunity to 

 watch this disease more closely. On August 15 the central leaves and 

 three adjacent ones of a certain tiee were left standing, while the re- 

 maining leaves were either hanging or had dropped to the ground. 

 Natives stated at that time that the trouble with the tree was due to 

 hghtning. On September 29 there was only one upright leaf. On 

 the following morning the entire leaf had blown off, thus furnishing a 

 good opportunity to examine its condition. The column, about 2.5 

 meters long, composed of the leafstalk sheaths, was intact, but most 

 of the leaves had cither bent over or had been broken off just above 

 the sheaths. From this point dowoi the entire column to the base, 

 which represented the growing point, there were great areas of brown, 

 water-soaked, and rotted tissue. These areas were more or less con- 



» Home, W. T. The Bud Rot and Some Other Coconut Troubles in Cuba. Bulletin 15, Estaci<3n 

 Central Agron6mica de Cuba, July, 1908. 

 228 



