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THE ^^^'^ 



03RDErS5' BULLETIN, 



5TRAIT5 5ETTLEnENT5. 



Vol. II. Issued July 4th, 1919. No. 4. 



HEVEA VERSUS FUNGI. 



It has long been a commonly observed fact in the history of 

 many crops that at first, with only small and isolated plantings, 

 there is likely to be little if any trouble with diseases and pests. 

 This has often resulted in giving planters ill-founded hopes and 

 false assurances as to the future. As the area planted is extended 

 .and large sections of country become occupied with the crop, ende- 

 mic fungi and insects gradually become adapted to it, and others 

 slowly filter in from abroad. The latter occurrence is quite in- 

 evitable in new countries since the people of such countries cannot 

 be convinced of the necessity of strict plant quarantine regulations 

 efficientlv administered, until driven to it bv bitter experience — too 

 late. 



TIevea is a conspicuous case in point. A large number of 

 fungi have become adapted to it in oriental plantings, and so far 

 ^s production alone is concerned, fungi will constitute the limiting 

 factor. It is perfectly characteristic of human experience and 

 human failings, that planters and government administrators can- 

 not be expected to become fully alive to the problems involved and 

 the necessities of the case, until staggering losses have been suffer- 

 ed, or until wholesale infection has occurred. It was only after 

 the coffee industry of Ceylon and Java was doomed that effective 

 Avork began in the study of the Coffee Eust. It was only after 

 thousands of acres of fine Florida orange groves were destroyed 

 that people awoke to the importance of the Citrus Canker, as a 

 limiting factor in citrus culture. Yerily, we are anxious enough 

 to lock the barn after the horse is stolen ! But it is not always 

 thus ! The U, S. Department of Agriculture now has Dr. Weston 

 — an able pathologist — stationed for a year in the Philippines to 

 study the highly destructive oriental corn mildew. Why should 

 this great expense be incurred when there is no corn mildew in the 

 United States? Because the corn mildew is not ivanted there, and 

 because, if it should by chance get there, it may be met loith full 

 understanding! In this manner, active work is not only being done 



