274 THE CHIEF SOUTHERN AGRICULTURAL CROPS 



central terminal bud, the whole mass of soft tissue of 

 which it is composed is quickly reduced to a stink- 

 ing pulp and the upper leaves topple over and fall. 

 The disease, when once established, spreads gradually 

 from tree to tree in ever widening circles. The 

 exact manner in which the contagion is conveyed 

 is not known, but it is probably carried by insects. 

 It has been observed that the disease advances 

 faster with the prevailing wind than against it. 

 All ordinary remedial measures are powerless to 

 reach a disease of this character and so far the 

 planters have been helpless in trying to stay its 

 progress. Some claim that touching a match to 

 the dead leaves and trash always found hanging 

 in the top of a cocoanut tree and thus disinfecting 

 it by fire will often arrest the disease in its incip- 

 ient stages. The observed facts indicate that this 

 may be the case, but exact experiments are lacking. 

 Theoretically tlie prompt cutting out and burning 

 of all infected trees as soon as the disease can be 

 detected should arrest the disease and perhaps 

 ultimately stamp it out from any given locality, but 

 the experiment never seems to have been tried on a 

 sufficiently thorough and extensive scale to afford a 

 demonstration. 



Scale insects of various kinds often attack the 

 cocoanut and do considerable harm. The leaves turn 

 yellow when attacked, and the tree loses vigor and 

 in some cases even dies, but this is very rare. 



The leaves are also often spotted and discolored by 

 the growth of various fungi. It is probable that 

 some of these fungous parasites are responsible for a 



