228 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



coffee in Ceylon; between 1880 and 1888 it reduced that in- 

 dustry to abject ruin. During its continuance the late Prof. 

 Marshall Ward was appointed cryptogamist to investigate the 

 disease ; but though he made out its life-history, he was not 

 able to recommend any satisfactory treatment. In 1897 the 

 attack of a Ncctria upon cacao in Ceylon led by one or two 

 stages to the appointment of a mycologist upon the Ceylon 

 staff"; similar appointments have since been made in many 

 tropical countries. It is now generally admitted, as the result 

 of many years' work and experience, that a proper scientific 

 study of disease-causing fungi and of methods of treatment 

 will often give results of much value, whilst at the same time 

 the agricultural community has grown to realise that its best 

 policy is to give early notice of any attack of disease and get 

 advice regarding treatment, instead of waiting, as used to be 

 the case, until the disease had spread so far that it was practi- 

 cally out of hand, before asking for aid. 



The success of m3'cological investigation and, of course, 

 of the parallel investigations of hurtful insects and modes of 

 dealing with them, has now led to the enactment of laws for 

 the compulsory treatment of disease. It has in general been 

 very difficult to get even the capitalist planters to adopt any 

 treatment that costs more than a few pence and impossible to 

 persuade the peasantry to adopt such. With a view to dealing 

 with such people for their own good, laws have been passed in 

 Ceylon and elsewhere under which, when the government is 

 convinced that there is a bad outbreak of serious disease, which 

 may if unchecked lead to grave consequences for the agricultural 

 industry, regulations for its compulsory treatment may be issued. 



Two cases have so far occurred in Ceylon of applications of 

 this law — the destruction of hundreds of thousands of coconut 

 trees at Batticaloa by a cyclone and the outbreak of the stem- 

 bleeding disease of the coco-nut all over the island. In the 

 first case the dead trees formed a favourable breeding-ground 

 for beetles, which would soon have destroyed the trees that 

 survived the cyclone. Instructions were therefore issued that 

 they should be destroyed completely within a certain time. 

 The people being reduced to great straits, compensation was 

 paid for every tree destroyed ; but this is not usual. Within 

 six months every dead tree had disappeared, and the beetles 

 had only their normal breeding-grounds left. 



