55 



Jenman, has not yet been determined, though, it has been studied closely 

 in the fields, and samples of the affected parts have been examined 

 by mycologists. Very wet weather materially increases its prevalence on 

 heavy new land, and good drainage and high planting can be resorted 

 to as a protection from its ravages. It is said that cocoa-nut palms in 

 British Guiana are affected by the same disease as the plantains. 



An obscure disease of cocoa-nut trees at Montego Bay, Jamaica, may 

 be related to it. Mr. Fawcett, describing the Jamaica trees, states, " in 

 almost all the trees examined the sour smell of a putrefactive fermentation 

 was very noticeable, and I am of opinion that the disease is due to an 

 organised ferment which is able to attack the very tender tissues of the 

 youngest parts even outside the terminal bud. If this ferment can be 

 destroyed by fire or other means before it reaches the terminal bud in 

 the heart of the cabbage the tree may be saved." The only remedy at 

 all effective was " burning the leaves on the trees in the early stiges of 

 the disease." It was recommended to destroy all diseased trees, and 

 for those under treatment it was suggested to apply to their roots the 

 ashes of the burnt leaves mixed with some manure. 



The bananas in British Guiana are apparently not affected in the same 

 way as the plantains. Some plants here and there growing near 

 diseased plantains are affected, but the bananas as a rule are free from 



disease. 



As far as can be gathered the plantain disease is more pronounced on 

 the "newly empoldered clay lands of the Colony." This land, with stiff, 

 tenacious soil, is strongly impregnated with salt, and it will not grow sugar 

 canes. It is possible such conditions may serve to render the plantains 

 susceptible to the disease if not directly the cause of it. It has been 

 shown that plants affected by the disease grown experimentally in the 

 Botanic Gardens at Georgetown, in comparatively poorer but drier and 

 more cultivated soil, have " lost the affection from the first, and bore 

 " without exception sound fruit." 



Trinidad. — The following information by Mr. J. H. Hart, F.L.S., on 

 this subject is taken from the Bulletin of the Royal Botanic Gardens, 

 Trinidad, No. 21, January, 1894 :— 



" For some two or three years past a disease has appeared among the 

 various kinds of Musas cultivated in Trinidad. It is characterised by a 

 diseased condition of the leaves, and by the fruit rotting before coming 

 to maturity. 



" The kinds most affected are those known as the ' Moko,' or ' Jumbi 

 plantain,' and the 'Jamaica banana,' otherwise known in Trinidad as 

 the ' Gros Michel,' which is the kind most generally exported to the 

 United States. 



" I have several times examined diseased plants at various seasons, but 

 so far am unable to point to any special cause. When first affected the plant 

 shows signs of disease by the decay or shrivelling up of its leaves, aud 

 a general weak appearance ; the base of the petiole also rots away into 

 a state of fermentation. The watery sap of the plant teems with 

 amoeboid organisms, and nematoid worms are present in large numbers, 

 while a variety of forms of bacteria are present in the fluids of both 

 stem and leaf. 



" These organisms also appear in the soil surrounding the roots, and 

 also in the fruit when it decays. I have, however, been unablo to show 

 that the plant is attacked by parasitic fungi of any kind. 



