ROYAL GARDENS, KEW. 
Ze - 
: BULLETIN 
MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION, 
No. 85.) — ncc di E: [1894. 
CCCLIIL—GUMMING OF THE SUGAR-CANE IN NEW 
SOUTH WALES. 
Inquiries having been addressed to Kew with respect to a disease of 
the sugar-cane which has made its appearance in New South Wales, 
in the Kew Bulletin for € information. ‘This is contained in the 
Annual Report (1893) of the Department of Agriculture of the Colony 
(pp. 8-10). The statement has been drawn up by Dr. Cobb, Patholo- 
gist to the Departme 
The diami is Mad) to the agency of a bacterium (* microbe”). 
This is not improbable, "———— not appear to have been actually 
ove 
The part played by bacteria in producing plant diseases is still very 
Ae understood. Bacillus Amylobacter feeds on and destroys 
e flesh of succvlent fruits, potatoes, &c. e best ascertained case is, 
id that of a disease of Hy racinths, due to a yellow bacillus. ‘E his 
develops in the fibro-vascular bundles of the bulb, especially in the 
vessels. It eventually ascends into the leaves, fills the inter-cellular 
passages, and finally penetrates | the epidermis. . 
In the United States the destructive diseases known as * Pear Blight” - 
and * Peach Yellows” have been attributed, with some probability, to : 
the action of bacteria 
e Department of ud iculture rd with commendable judgment, 
fdtented the only practical remedy by impressing on the ner tle 
| paramount importance of securing emn “sets ” for remem 
fisiacr from the Annual Report, 1893 (pp. m of the 
DEPARTMENT of AGRICULTURE, New Sourn Wa 
Five weeks, inclusive of the month of July, were spent on the 
Clarence River. Upwards of 80 possible causes of disease in cane were 
examined with care. These included half a dozen different species of 
2 the nematodes are doing any such amount of damage as would cause the 
m a ; 
complaints which are to be heard everywhere on "the Clarence River. — 
U 79905. 1875—1/94. Wt. 134. x 
