107 
localities, In den months it was first noticed to be present to a serious 
n e 
merara 
tields affected were, upon my advice, burnt before cutting, reaped as 
rapidly as possible and the actually diseased canes destroyed in the 
affected were thrown out of sugar cultivation. In December of 1894 I 
received instructions to visit the West Indian Islands and to consult 
with the botanists and chemists who had studied this disease. This I 
; Gre 
has been abandoned since 1867. Even in the ie eae plaee I 
found canes affected with the rind disease. n I learned 
that estates in East Demerara had also m Ea ‘lightly from the 
disease. E the earlier part of last year p pem of its prevalence 
were brought our notice, bu received from plantations in 
Essequibo and Deania specimens affected with the “root fungus" 
and also with a peculiar disease causing “ clubbing” of the roots. In 
October and November last it became apparent that lar ge areas of canes 
were more or less affected in east and west coasts of Demerara, in the 
Essequibo islands, and on the coast of Essequibo. The estates on the 
banks of the rivers have not suffered to any extent, whilst the Berbice 
ones have apparently escaped, At present, canes everywhere seem free 
from it, but if we suffer from drought " have no doubt it will reappear. 
As long as we had constant wet seasons the disease remained unnoticed ; 
it is during periods of drought that it occurs. At the e Agricultural 
Committee this disease has been a constant theme of discussion since it 
I have visited several of the estates where 
it has been most prevalent, and found that it is practically common only 
a 
.. On all estates, as far as I can ascertain, every ca 
destroy all diseased canes, and this is far easier to d completely here 
than in the islands. 
may mention that duri g my visit to the islands T was doin to the 
conelusion that the effects due to fungus disease eatly 
gerated, as all defects arising from. vir or sift efects, 
s, wan s, had been recently 
à ne oec in St. visa informed me “om 
whilst the fungus was injurious to the owners it was a 
managers, as through it they sould explain all things eich: v "ii 
wron 
But. with regard to this Colony, where the managers of sugar estates 
are men of an entirely different type to those in the West Indian 
Islands, I can assure you that there has been no eel to.“ pooh qe » 
ds, 
€ dise ca ver every effort possible is being, and has been, 
m^ e ve, perhaps, devoted ourselves more x the 
idi y of the saon which have allowed it to spread so rapidly and 
