io8 COCONUT CULTIVATION 



for all property owners having diseased coconut 

 trees to destroy them at once ; this has not 

 hitherto been done. The chief difficulty appears 

 to be the lack of funds to carry out the work of 

 destruction required by the law. Such expense, 

 however, becomes a first charge on a plantation, 

 and the initial fund to start operations should 

 be an immediate concern of the Government 

 Treasury. 



Apart from the existing official Agricultural 

 Boards, a West Indian Planters Association, 

 with branches throughout the islands, would be 

 a useful institution. 



In important districts co-operation is needed 

 amongst planter owners for securing to them- 

 selves a resident mycologist. He might be 

 allowed to supplement his salary by reporting 

 on other plantations as occasion offers, and thus 

 become thoroughly acquainted with conditions 

 in general throughout the district. It is likely, 

 too, that Government would invest him with 

 authority to deal with disease under the Plant 

 Protection Ordinance. 



GENERAL CONDITIONS 



Climate and Soil. These are much the same 

 as those prevailing in other tropical countries 

 where the coconut palm is in evidence. 



As in Malaya, and the East generally, the 

 palm of the West Indies is the Cocos Nucifera. 



