U5 



ring of quite healthy-looking leaves at the top of a " headless" 

 trunk. 



On cutting down several of these trees it was noticed that while 

 the roots and stem were perfectly healthy, the bases of the 

 youngest leaves and their wrappings were in a rotten condition, 

 as were also the bases of the still-unfolded flower stalks. This 

 rot, in a diseased palm that is still standing, is invisible until the 

 harder outer coverings of the bud are removed and it is found to 

 be limited to the softer tissues. Instead of finding a healthy 

 white cabbage, a pale-brown rotten mass is seen. It extends in 

 badly diseased trees from the bases of the youngest leaves for a 

 distance of three or four feet downwards until it reaches the 

 harder tissues of the stem. Sometimes it spreads in thinnish 

 lines, which can often be noticed externally by the leaves of 

 one side of the tree turning yellow, while the others are 

 apparently healthy, but at other times it seems to spread cen- 

 trally, and the varying external symptoms must be accounted for 

 by the assumption that the rot has no set method of spreading, 

 and, therefore, whatever leaf has its food supplies cut off first 

 must show the first signs of withering and yellowing. 



A badly diseased bud is generally full of fly larvre, etc., and 

 the smell is awful. It resembles closely the bud of a tree badly 

 attacked with root or leaf disease, and, therefore, suggests that 

 further researches are greatly needed before any definite conclu- 

 sion about its origin can be arrived at. 



36. Microscopic examination of the roots and stem indicated 

 that they were quite normal, while those portions of the terminal 

 bud, in the advancing margin of the disease showed in most cases 

 bacteria of different kinds, only in two instances was the advanc- 

 ing margin marked by a reddish discolouration produced by 

 some fungal mycelium. Although this mycelium has been more 

 or less successfully isolated, the fruiting bodies have not been ob- 

 tained nor have the few infection experiments given positive 

 results. Of the bacteria, two have been isolated in pure cultures, 

 while at least one more has been observed in a rotten bud. Two 

 of the bacteria are apparently gas-producers and have been found 

 in rotten terminal buds of trees that have suffered from the leaf- 

 disease or the root trouble, while another has only been noticed 

 in rotten buds from the Siparia district. 



37. Whenever the youngest visible leaf is observed to be lop- 

 ped over and wilting, the terminal bud is sure to be involved in a 

 soft rot. The roots and stem appear to be quite healthy and no 

 evidence of damage to the tree could be found. 



The few isolated cases in the Cedros district would indicate 

 that this disease is not of a very infectious character, but large 

 numbers have been killed out in the Siparia district, the spread 

 being very rapid and apparently from the windward. I am in- 

 clined to the view that this disease is similar to the destructive 

 disease of coco-nuts in Cuba, but, as far as Trinadad plantations 

 are at present concerned, it would appear to be largely due to 

 unfavourable conditions of soil, drainage, etc. 



