DISEASES AND PESTS 43 



they live, at the expense of any living tissue which may 

 adjoin it. But there is no reason to suspect any one of 

 these of being able to attack a sound tree, or of being a 

 serious additional enemy of injured trees. 



BUD ROT 



The most incurable and, unless strongly handled, 

 the most dangerous diseases of the coco-nut are the bud 

 rots. These attack the soft young tissue at the apex 

 of the stem, and sooner or later destroy the growing 

 point itself. Since the coco-nut does not branch, and 

 never renews its growing point, this immediately stops 

 the formation of new leaves and flowering branches, 

 and very soon kills the tree. 



Except in the case of the Godaveri Eiver bud rot 

 and that of the West Indies, the organisms causing these 

 diseases are not positively known. Whether or not 

 they themselves cause the disease, gas -producing 

 bacteria are always present in the rotting mass and 

 produce a vile odour. From a diseased or dead tree, 

 spores or germs can be carried by insects or by the 

 wind to other trees. When a tree is once infected by 

 bud rot, it is practically impossible to save it in any 

 way, and energetic action must be taken to prevent the 

 spread of the disease. Bud rot has been reported in the 

 West Indies and about the Caribbean Sea, in Portuguese 

 East Africa, in Ceylon, in the delta of the Godaveri 

 River in India, and in Luzon. Since different organisms 

 seem to cause the bud rot in different parts of the world, 

 and the disease therefore does not everywhere run 

 through the same course, it is worth while to describe 

 the symptoms and the methods of treatment tried in 

 the different regions. 



India. — A bud rot in Travancore is described in 

 the Indian Forester of 1894 and in a letter in 

 Ferguson's All about the Coco-nut. It is a 



. . . decay of the tender, unexpanded leaf-shoot. At first, the 

 lower end of the shoot grows discoloured, and in a few days 



