421 



Wound-fungi. — Many trees were lost through wound- 

 fnngi which obtained an entrance through a wound made 

 where a branch was broken or cut off, or where a wound 

 has been made in some other way. Most planters now 

 recognise the danger of bare wounds and cover such with 

 tar, but the practice is unfortunately far from universal. 



Soil Acidity. — Many complaints of diseased plants 

 were found to be due to excessive acidity in the soil. This 

 source of trouble is fairly common on the humus-rich peaty 

 soils of the Coast districts. I referred to it in my 1907 

 report, Coffee suffers also. Good drainage and the appli- 

 cation of lime usually neutralises the soil sufficiently. Ex- 

 periments to reduce this acidity by means of Christmas 

 Island phosphates are being carried on; pending the results 

 of these, 1 recommend the application of lime to such soils. 



Coffee seems to be even more susceptible to soil acidity 

 than rubber. Coconuts appear to be little affected. Both 

 these crops have been put in on soil found to be "too peaty" 

 — i.e., too acid — for rubber, but coffee has not been a suc- 

 cess. 



Fungi have been found on numerous native products 

 but in no considerable degree. Rice and coconuts are par- 

 ticularly free from fungal disease. 



Tomatoes are attacked by three distinct fungi. One 

 attacking the stem and leaves; the other two live on stems, 

 loaves and fruits. As tomatoes are usually grown in small 

 quantities and the property of Europeans, the best thing is 

 to burn out the crop completely. 



In the "Agricultural Bulletin" for January, 1908, I 

 published a paper entitled "Plant Life and Disease," in- 

 tended to give a general view of plant hygiene, an idea of 

 the inter-relations of a parasite and its vegetable host, and 

 of the behaviour of a plant to its environment. 



Most planters are fairly quick to report disease, and 

 some hints to enable them to send useful specimens, and to 

 describe the appearances the unhealthy plant presents, have 

 been published in the M Agricultural Bulletin" in the past 

 year. 



Max trial Experiments. — Queries occasionally reached 

 the department regarding the application of manure to 

 rubber trees. The soil concerned had generally been worn 

 out by coffee or tapioca, and frequently had suffered much 

 from wash. To gain some information on this point, I 

 began early in the year experiments on two estates with 

 artificial measures. Results have been accumulated hut 

 they are not complete enough yet for publication. 



