154 UED ROT OF SUGARCANE. 



sidcM'cd as the v;\]\o was weakened Lv an attack of sugarcane-flv, 

 no serious outbreak of red rot has occurred since 1905-06. The 

 disease is ahvays present and was fairly ]>ad in Yerra in 1905-06 

 and in Ked Mauritius in 1906-07. in hoth cases accunudating in the 

 following ]st latoons so as to destroy most of the croj). in 1908-09 

 it was difficult to find enough diseased cane to supply cultui'es foi- 

 experimental work. In other years we have had 5 to 10*\, diseased. 

 These results are ])rol)ably l)etter than in aiiy otliei' estate in Bihar, 

 though recently several estates have adopted sett selection. In one 

 such case, that referred to on page 198 of the Agiicidtural Journal 

 of India for 1907, a very severe attack of red I'ot occurred in 1905. 

 Sett selection has since been cairied out as a loutine practice and 

 the Manager reported recently that \\o has now no disease in his crop. 



At the Samalkota Sugar Station in Madras, sett selection has 

 been regularly carried out for the past ten years, at the instance of 

 Dr. (\ A. Bai'bei-. now Government Sugarcane Expert, Madras. 

 l)i'. i^arber was. we beheve, the first to advocate this method of 

 fighting red rot." In the beghniing it was combined with 

 pickhng the setts in a strong inixtuic of lime watei' and 

 carbolic, with a view to checking nioth-l)()i'er and the Queens- 

 land Acarus •• rust "', but this was subse(|uently not considered 

 necessary, in 1906, Dr. Barber stated that it was not jwssible 

 bv the mere rejection of red-mai'ked setts to root out the disease". 

 Ill sj)ite of all care all hut two of the local kinds were found 

 giaduallyto become woise. until tliev had to be i'eplac(Ml bv new 

 seed from outside. Once these had been discarded, however, better 

 results were obtained. Thus the 1907 report states that selection 

 had a satisfactory effect, disease becoming less every year among 

 the best varieties. In 1908, a severe storm at the end of Se])tembei' 

 was foilowefl by withering of a good many canes. Both Dr. Rar))er 

 and the seiiioi' writei' saw the crop in the following Febi'uarv and 



• SiijrarcaiU' in the (Jodavari and Canjuni Districts. |)f))t. of J.anil Mccord.- mikI AltI- 

 ciiiture, Madras, Hull.. Vol. 11, No. 4:}, I9(»l, p. I8S. 



* Barber, C. A. Sciontitic Hci)f)r( of the S:niialUotii Agricidtiiral Station for (lie year 

 ending 31st Marfh, 1900, p. 25. 



