72 



tracts on Hawaii now under the control of the Parker Ranch 

 and of the Kukaiau Ranch. Visits of inspection were made to 

 these localities in the summer and autumn of 1911, when the tree 

 planting work was found to be going on satisfactorily in accord- 

 ance with the requirements of the leases. 



In December, 1911, a planting plan was drawn up for certain 

 Government lands in the Kula District, Maui, now under a lease 

 to the Cornwell Ranch, carrying similar requirements. Planting 

 on these lands, delayed during the past summer by unfavorable 

 weather conditions, is now in progress. 



Through the voluntary co-operation of two sugar plantation 

 companies the Waianae Company on Oahu, and the. Wailuku 

 Sugar Company on Maui forest planting is now going on on 

 Government land in forest reserves above those plantations. In 

 both cases grass-covered slopes on the foot hills are being re- 

 forested, mainly with Eucalypts. At Waianae 5177 trees were 

 planted in 1911 ; 3336 in 1912. Above Wailuku, the planting of 

 the land of Polipoli did not begin till 1912, when 2686 trees were 

 set out. 



FUNGUS DISEASE ON EUCALYPTUS. 



During the autumn of 1912 the plant pathologists of the Ha- 

 waiian Sugar Planters' Experiment Station called attention to 

 a fungus which is killing Eucalyptus trees in various parts of the 

 Territory. Perhaps the place where the trouble has been most 

 noticeable is the Tantalus Forest, back of Honolulu, where many 

 large trees have been killed. Up to now the Eucalypts in Hawaii, 

 except for injury from a leaf-eating beetle on one or two species, 

 have been remarkably free from insect pests, blights and similar 

 troubles so that the appearance of this fungus is an unpleasant 

 surprise. 



As yet not as much has been found out about the fungus as 

 will be known when investigations now in progress are complet- 

 ed, but the indications seem strongly to be that it is most likely 

 to attack individual trees rather than groves as a whole, so that 

 if somewhat greater care is given the stand than has been thought 

 necessary in the past, there need be no great cause for worry 

 over a diminution of returns. Instead of periodical thinnings 

 it may become necessary to remove individual trees should they 

 die, whereby the spread of the fungus may be that much checked. 

 This has been done on Tantalus the past autumn, the wood being 

 sold for fuel, as it might be from any other stand. 



Basing the statement on information now in hand, it may be 

 said that the danger of the disease becoming epidemic and at- 

 tacking all the trees of a given grove at once seems remote. Ex- 

 ceptional climatic conditions favorable to its spread might of 



