282 
during the past six or seven years, and it would make rapid strides but 
or the persistent watchfulness of the growers. No reliable cure has yet 
been found, but inquiry and expe eriment are still going on.” The 
subject was discussed in Kew Bulletin, 1890, pp. 272-273. 
Sir John Thurston stated that the disease broke out in the first 
Cavendishii (largely grown in Fiji for export), was first attacked, but in 
the course of a few months the larger and stronger plantain was affected, 
and ultimately not a single banana or plantain "could be found from one 
end of the island to the "other. The disease then passed over to Viti 
lae Th 
report in 1 eli 891 that after a cem € rest the land even there was able to 
ants almost free from dise 
It was ibis that ihe Fiji tibdheo might be caused by a nematoid 
worm, a minute parasite similar to that found in Queensland attacking 
the roots. It was recommended, failing success with various insecti- 
cides, to plough the land, leaving. it fallow for a time and alternating 
crop. e ground was subsequently to Be replanted with 
suckers from an LETS locality. The view that the d 
caused, in part at least. by nematoid worms was apparently confirmed 
by investigations with fresh material undértaken by Dr. N. A. Cobb at 
Sydney, New South Wales. "The resnlts are given in nef eene 
1892, pp. 48, 49. The remedies suggested by Dr. Cobb w 
* ]. Where the bananas are cultivated, a system of rotation siad be 
adopted; no sitari should be made to "uud banana "m on the same 
ground continuously for a long series of year 
*2. Judging from the specimens we Mes soil about the banana 
eee is infested to an extraordinary degree with nematodes, therefore 
it is best, in baer to plough deeply; o or to occasionally subsoil the 
land. These n atodes attack the roots of plants, and exist largely 
within 8 idis" of the surface. As they become rarer as the depth 
of the soil inereases, it follows that if the land be ploughed deep ^. 
thoroughly so as to turn the soil exactly bottom side up, a soil co 
par on free from nematodes will be brought to the surface, and, at the 
same time, the nematodes which were near the surface are buried so 
deep that poe can do much less damage than they could if left at the 
surface. 
(53, POT TEN mim uly in dealing with these plants is thought 
great care in setting the new ranks të., in making new plantations. 
k. ; 
spade, they epee be inspected, and all brown and rotten portions should 
be earefully removed, and all suckers from which these brown and 
Aerated Eir cannot be removed should be discarded." 
British Guiana.—A disease of plantains has long been known in this 
Colony. Diseased stems exhibit internal decay, the substance of the leaf 
sheafs “turning to a so a. offensively-scented, putrid mass.” The 
fruits produced by the diseased plants “ are black ‘aiid, but a soft like 
the interio the stems and rootstocks of the plants, They are of 
course ueni for food." The nature ‘of the disease, according to Mr. 
