162 HISTORY AND CAUSE OF THE COCONUT BUD-EOT. 



Jamaica, and in a few cases in the extreme eastern end ; in the Cajnnan 

 Islands; in British Honduras; in Trinidad on the north and west 

 sides; in British Guiana at the mouth of the Essequibo River and at 

 Mahaicony. According to reports it occurs also in the Pliilippines 

 and in Ceylon; probably in British India, in German East Africa, and 

 in Portuguese East Africa. 



(5) This disease was investigated in 1901, at the request of the 

 planters of Baracoa, Cuba, by Mr. August Busck, entomologist of the 

 United States Department of Agriculture. In 1904, Dr. Erwin F. 

 Smith, plant pathologist of the same Department, made further inves- 

 tigations in the same district, and declared the disease to be a bac- 

 terial soft rot of the terminal bud. Mr. W. T. Ilorne, until recently 

 plant pathologist of the Estacion Central Agronomica of Santiago 

 de las A^egas, studied the disease in 1906 to 1909, in both the eastern 

 and western districts of Cuba. Mr. W. Fawcett, formerly director 

 of the botanical de])artment of Jamaica, reported tlie trouble in 

 Jamaica in 1891, and since then has made frequent observations on it. 

 Mr. W. Cradwick, traveling instructor of the same department, has 

 also made studies on the same malady. Prof. F. S. Earle, while on 

 the staff of the New York Botanical Gardens, reported on the disease 

 in Jamaica in 1902. Mr. W. A. ^Murrill, of the same staff, reported 

 on it in 1908. In Trinidad, Mr. W. Greig called attention to the dis- 

 ease in 1905. Mr. J. H. Plart, formerly director of the botanical 

 station of Trinidad, investigated the trouble in the same year. Mr. 

 F. A. Stockdale, until recently mycologist of the Imperial Department 

 of Agriculture for the West Indies, studied the troubles of the coconut 

 in 1906. Dr. A. Fredholm made a report on the fungous diseases of 

 the coconut in Trinidad in 1909. 



(6) The extent and nature of the disease of the coconut were 

 investigated by the writer for the United States Department of Agri- 

 culture, in 1907, in Cuba, Jamaica, Trinidad, and British Guiana. 

 Other investigations were carried on in eastern Cuba in 1908, 1909, 

 and 1910, and some observations were made in Porto Rico in 1910 

 and 1911. 



(7) The location of the malady in the tissues with reference to the 

 general structure of the tree makes it a particularly difficult one with 

 which to experiment by direct means. 



(8) Infection experiments with bacteria were successful in pro- 

 ducing typical bud-rot. Infection experiments with fungi ])roduced 

 only dry and brown spots of limited extent. 



(9) Experimental application of various approved fungicidal mix- 

 tures as remedies gave negative results. In general, those ])lanters 

 attending to ordinary methods of sanitation in their groves had httle 

 trouble with tliis disease. 



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