83 
(2.) The geil of this disease is that the canes appear to receiv 
check in their growth about June and July after planting ; tlie 
. plant dvitidice down, fresh basal shoots are formed to supply the 
plaee of the dying ones, but notwithstanding e: it is ultimately 
found that growth has been arrested and no cane formed; and if 
the plant be dug up the roots are nearly all eid; and those that 
are still living are dotted over by little red spots. The dead roots 
are also often covered by m 
(3.) Such canes yield Wen Am es sugar, and the crop of a thoroughly 
diseased field is practically nothing. 
(4.) There seems to be some resemblance between this disease and the 
Sereh of Java. In the latter disease we have the same retardation 
of growth, and shortness of joints, a great number of dead roots, an 
attempt to throw out new shoots from the stool to replace those 
above that are dead. In Sereh, as in the St. John's disease, there 
is a — dying away of the plant after the commencement of the 
rainy s 
e one characteristic Ae] of Sereh is the presence of & 
gelatinous substance, slime or gum, in © fbro-vasculr bundles of the 
cane, giving the parts i ataei a red co Giod 
It has been finally decided at Kew that Colletotrichum falcatum, 
Went, is imply one phase in the life history of Z'richospheria Sacchari, 
Mass., and that the phenomena above described are the effects of that 
particular phase of the disease. 
SELECTED CANE FIXIS 
s difficult to form a poc one with regard to the part 
payed by by. Vaekegon au selected cane plan a romans rind fungus. 
so evel in the life " the cane that it is difficult to 
suppose ut careless selection has been the direct cause of the presence 
of fungus spores. It is osi equally difücult to speak with regard to 
the propagation of Moth Borer. This insect, as well as the fungus, 
appears to be more prevalent in the low than in the high lands, and it 
may be that the better shelter from winds in the former districts enables 
it to settle more effectively and prevents dispersion. On the other hand, 
in recent years it often happens on every estate that a larger or smaller 
number of cane plants fail to germinate or die off almost immediately 
after gorminat on. 
At all events, in some cases this is due to diseased we and it seems 
Brécoditiply ens that the high gie of supplies on some estates 
has been partly due to that cause. The disease is sometimes due to the 
Moth Borer and sometimes due to fün s. In this connexion an 
ET 3 ng experiment is recorded by a planter of this island, Mna 
Keni Keni plants selected carefully by labourers from a diseased feld, 
8 y ,000 
These instances, in our opinion, show one of the effects of planting ng 
diseased canes, another effect being, according to Kew experiments, to 
produce the root form of the disease. 
The perar selection of plants has been urged not only in Barbados 
ut in every cane-growing country where disease has led. to careful 
investigation, and the practice “of indiscriminate selection of plants 
A 2 
