102 CACAO 



Further study has shown that it is able to kill enormous 

 trees, and once attacked the death of the tree is merely a 

 question of time, as no remedy can be applied. Where the 

 disease is prevalent the greatest care should be taken to 

 prevent air-borne spores gaining entrance through wounds 

 or abrasions to the cacao-tree. Its discovery by Mr. A. E. 

 CoUens on. the cacao-tree is of great importance, as it 

 shows the danger to cacao which a belt of forest land 

 entails. Many of the largest trees of the forest are brought 

 to the ground by the attack of this fungus and utterly 

 destroyed, and forest belts in which it is present must 

 constitute a permanent source of danger to cacao if 

 they are allowed to stand. The careful planter, how- 

 ever, will take steps to remove infected trees in his 

 wind breaks and shelter belts so as to rid himself of 

 the proximity of such a dangerous wound parasite. 

 The fungus itself may readily be distinguished by the 

 naked eye. In the first instance slight swellings or 

 blisters appear upon the bark, generally circular in form, 

 and varying from half an inch to three or four in diameter. 

 After some little time the raised bark cracks away, and 

 beneath is found a hard black stroma or cushion, which 

 contains the perithecia and spores of the fungus. To the 

 present time, there is little evidence of its having done 

 any material damage in cacao lands, but one tree being 

 found infected clearly shows that others may become so. 

 It is a wound parasite, and the dressings of cacao-trees 

 should be regularly maintained where there are trees 

 infected with Eutypa in the neighbourhood, in order to 

 prevent inoculation. 



The fungus is also found in Barbados, some of the old 

 trees of Ficus lucida on the Garrison savannah being badly 

 affected. Mr. A. E. Collens has recorded its presence on 

 Litchee trees in the Botanic Gardens, Trinidad. In this 

 case the trees were known to have suffered from lowered 

 vitality due to another cause, and, in the opinion of the 

 writer, formed an excellent object-lesson, explaining the 



