46 



THE COCO-NUT 



CHAP. 



From numerous infection experiments it appears 

 that the time from infection up to the death of the 

 growing point is up to ten months. Field observations 

 would extend this period almost to two years, and three 

 years or more may pass before the palm is reduced to 

 the bare pole. It is reported that there are rare cases 

 of recovery even after a great part of the crown has 

 withered. This is due to the growing points having 

 escaped injury. Such trees remain susceptible and 

 usually die as a result of renewed attack. 



Ceylon. — Bud rot is reported by Petch as having 

 appeared in Ceylon in 1906. It was found only in a 

 small isolated patch of 10 acres, about 800 trees, of 

 which 50 were dead or dying. The infected trees were 

 three or four years old, and old trees were not found 

 ailing. 



The first indication of the disease (in the case of young 

 plants) is the withering of the youngest unfolding leaf. This 

 turns brown, and can be pulled out of its sheath ; it is then 

 found to end in a soft brown mass. . . . The decay of this leaf 

 is followed by that of the other fronds in succession, commenc- 

 ing with the youngest and proceeding outwards and downwards. 

 The fronds decay and fall off until only a conical stump 

 remains. If the dying fronds are removed and the bud 

 exposed, there will be found, instead of the white cabbage, a 

 pale-brown semi-liquid mass, which becomes dark brown with 

 age and possesses an odour resembling that of a tan yard. In 

 an advanced stage this rot includes the whole of the cabbage, 

 and stops only when the woody portion of the stem is reached. 



The organisms responsible for this decay are bacteria, which 

 are found in abundance in the rotting tissues ; they are short 

 thick rods with rounded ends which form whitish colonies of 

 slow growth on sugar agar. . . . These bacteria appear to find 

 an entrance to the cabbage along the youngest leaf. 



Diseased trees should be felled and the terminal bud burned. 

 It should not be allowed to lie on the ground and become dry. 

 ... If steps are taken to remove dead and dying palms as soon 

 as they are observed, there need be no fear that this disease 

 will become a serious menace to coco-nut cultivation. Felling 

 and burning diseased trees is no doubt an expensive process, 

 but it must be remembered that the work is of the nature of an 

 insurance effected on the remaining trees, and its cost should 



