ROYAL GARDENS, KEW, 
BULLETIN 
MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION, 
No. 90.] JUNE. [1894. 
CCCLXXXVI.—TREATMENT OF DISEASED SUGAR- 
CANES IN THE WEST INDIES. 
n consequence of the appearance of disease affecting sugar-canes in 
the West Indies, great attention has been phun to the subject at Kew, 
and in the course of official correspondence with the Colonial Office, € 
with local authorities in the islands rel he various recommendatio 
have been made with the view of enabling the sugar-planters to eal 
effectively with it.* 
2 
Fvwcorp DISEASE. 
The diseases chiefly engaging attention at the present time are the 
rind-fungus ( Trichospheria “sacchari), and the root-fungus (Colleto- 
tiahi falcatum). It is possible that these may eventually prove to 
be different forms of one and the same species, but the investigations on 
this point have not yet been completed. 
There is apparently a iem a? that attention is being diverted in the 
West Indies over too wide a field, and that the few, but really destrue- 
tive enemies of the sugar-cane, are likely to be overlooked. The 
recommendations made from Kew have, therefore, been confined to 
certain well-established facts, and to precautions and treatment 
calculated to improve the industry generally. For instance, it has been 
sought to impress upon those en loe in sugar growing, in the first 
place, to select only the best and strongest canes for planting purposes. 
Ets is a matter so obvious that it would hardly seem necessary to 
tion it. There is, however, sufficient evidence to show that, 
following the routine practice of a bygone age, cane-tops for planting 
are too often taken from weak and worn-out canes, and even from Fas 
which are actually diseased. When this is done disease in the cane- 
fields is inevitable. Not only so, but the disease every year takes 
stronger hold of the cane-fields until at last the cultivation threatens to 
become unproductive, 
* The following articles have lately appeared in the Kew Bulletin on the subject 
of — sease: Sugar-cane disease ( T'richospheria sacchari), 1893, : ye. 
Root disease of — — bus: pulsation; Went.), 1895, 
ing o y i» gar-cane TW in the Old Worl, 194 
p. 81; Sugar-cane Mem pes rer en 1894, p. 1 
U 81909,  1375.—6/[94. Wt. 45. A 
