FHYTOPHTHORA MEADII n. sp. ON HEVE/i 

 BRASILIENSIS. 



BY 



W. McRAE, M.A., B.Sc, F.L.S., 

 Government Mycologist, Madras. 



(Received for publication on 2nd April, 1918) 



Introduction. 



LIKRA«r 

 »OTA«iCAt 



Hevea BRASILIENSIS in India is grown chiefly in the south-western region 

 of the peninsula along the outer fringe of the Western Ghats from the southern 

 part of Travancore through Cochin State to the northern part of the district 

 of Malabar, as well as in a few more inland localities in the Anamalai, Nilgiri, 

 and Shevaroy Hills, in Coorg and in North Mysore where it is grown at higher 

 elevation in a climate not usually considered favourable. The estates occupy 

 the flat land in the upper parts of the valleys and the lower slopes of the foot- 

 hills, and individual estates or groups of estates are separated from one another 

 by vast stretches of forest and jimgle. During recent years Hevea has been 

 planted rapidly, and now there are about 60,000 acres of which about half is 

 in full tapping. Leaving out of account two small groups of trees planted 

 experimentally by the Forest Department about 1879 and 1886, the first Hevea 

 was planted mider estate conditions in 1903, and broadly speaking there were 

 two main periods of activity in planting Hevea in South India, 1906 to 1908 

 and 1910 to 1912, so that there are considerable blocks of all ages up to 13 years 

 from planting. The following table for which I am indebted to Mr. Anstead, 

 Deputy Director of Agriculture, Planting Districts,^ shows the distribution 

 (in acres) in the various districts. 



1 Anstead, R. D. '-Tho Planting Districts of .South India." 

 p. 416, 1917. 



Aijric. Journ., India, XII, 



