284 THE BANANA 



nature, having attained alarming proportions in those 

 countries by 1904. 



Dr. Erwin S. Smith, in the year 1910, isolated a species of 

 Fusarium from discoloured vessels of diseased material 

 from Cuba, and named the isolated organism Fusarium 

 cubense. Other investigators have investigated the disease 

 from time to time, but it appears that the results have 

 been somewhat lacking in accuracy. 



The disease has a very general distribution throughout 

 the tropical regions of the world. In the West Indies 

 it has been reported from Jamaica, Cuba, Porto Rico, 

 Trinidad, and Barbados, and there is no reasonable uncer- 

 tainty as to the identity of the disease. No doubt this 

 disease is present in other islands of the West Indies, but 

 on account of the limited extent of the banana industry 

 in them it has not yet been reported. In Central America 

 the disease is widespread, being especially virulent in 

 Costa Rica : it has also been reported from Mexico. It first 

 attracted wide attention in Panama early in the present 

 century, and in Surinam the disease is notorious for its 

 destructive nature and widespread occurrence. Evidence 

 that it exists in India is fairly conclusive, and it is probably 

 present in Australia and the Dutch East Indies. That 

 it was introduced into the Hawaiian Islands from Costa 

 Rica seems certain, since the outbreak of the disease there 

 quickly followed the first importation of Gros Michel 

 banana plants from Costa Rica. 



The promiscuous shipping of plants from a common 

 source into the various countries of Central and South 

 America and the West Indies has been probably respon- 

 sible for the wide distribution of the disease in tropical 

 America. The intensive cultivation of bananas on the 

 same land year in and year out, for export purposes 

 chiefly, has resulted in the disease becoming steadily worse 

 in districts where this is practised. Where bananas are 

 grown in a desultory way for home consumption, the 

 disease may be present, but is never serious. 



As early as 1910 this disease was regarded as one of the 



