improved methods of cultivating the cane or of handling it, however, 

 they may be valuable. Such has usually been the type of advice 

 given by various investigators when working on this disease. 



In 1895 there was published in the Kew Bulletin an article on 

 sugar-cane disease in Barbados and extracts were included from the 

 report of the commissioners appointed by the Governor of Barbados 

 to inquire into the pests and diseases of the cane. This commission 

 made the following recommendations: 



That all plants be soaked in Queensland solution^ before planting. 



That whenever deemed possible by the inspector the practice of spreading 

 trash around young canes be given up ; and that whenever it be resorted to, only 

 trash from a field which had been inspected and declared healthy or as healthy 

 as possible be employed. 



That rotten can6s on all fields diseased with rind disease should be burnt 

 on the field, or crushed and burned as mentioned below. 



That rotten canes on all fields be regularly burned during the crop. Juicy 

 •canes could be first crushed and the megass burned, the juice being boiled. 



That the trash used as litter be taken from fields which are healthy or as 

 healthy as can be got. 



That each estate i)ut such an area under the so-called hardy varieties of cane 

 plants as will suffice to replant the whole of the estate in those varieties if 

 necessary. 



That the cane fields be periodically inspected, with a view to cutting out the 

 •canes infected with borer or fungus, which canes should be bagged upon the spot 

 and taken away, crushed and burned. 



Fawcett, writing in the same year (1895) in the Bulletin of the 

 Botanical Department of Jamaica, adds to the foregoing recommen- 

 dations the following : 



Only healthy tops of strong canes should be used as seed canes. 



To avoid any chance of the fungus existing unnoticed in the tops, they might 

 "be steeped in a solution of sulphate of iron (one ounce powdered in three gallons 

 of water) for a few hours, especially if they are pierced by the borers. 



Unfortunately no report of experiments is available to show the 

 value of this latter suggestion. The idea of the sulphate of iron is 

 purely as a disinfectant, which is well accomplished by the use of 

 Bordeaux mixture. ^Moreover, it should be noted that the mycelium 

 of the rind disease may be within the stalk as well as at the surface, 

 and if there is any of the mycelium within, soaking in any mixture 

 long enough to kill the fungus growth within will also injure the 

 cane. Dipping seed in sterilizing mixtures is purely for the purpose 

 of destroying external fungi and providing a protective covering to 

 prevent the entrance of fungi. 



' Queensland sohition eciuals one pint of carbolic acid to 100 gallons of water. 



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