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COCONUT PALM DISEASE. 



We have lately received from a correspondent, in Borneo, an 

 account of a serious disease in coconuts, which bears so great a 

 resemblance to that known as bud-rot, which has hitherto only been 

 met with in India and Ceylon, at least in this part of the world, that 

 it seems highly probable that it is identical. Our correspondent, Mr. 

 E. Hose, describes it as follows: "The leaves turn yellow and the 

 fruit, if there is any, hangs limp, the leaves drop down and gradually 

 die, the stem of the tree gets thinner and thinner near the top, then 

 the centre shoot drops out, apparently having rotted ; inside the 

 heart, at the top, it is like rotten wood-mud. It seems to attack trees 

 of any age. Trees on wet or dry land are affected by it. According to 

 native stories, it has only put in an appearance since the last two 

 years." A very valuable and full account of an exactly similar disease 

 is published in the Bulletin of the Agricultural Research Institute of 

 Pusa, I^o. 9, March, 1908 by Mr. E. T. Butler, the Imperial mycologist. 

 He says : ( p. 5 ) As a general rule, the first indication that a coconut 

 palm is attacked is the opening out of the outer leaves from the 

 head. The leaf stalk becomes slightly flaccid and the weight of the 

 leaf causes the whole to drop. Then the ends af the pinnae or leaflets 

 at the extremity of the leaf become flaccid and hang down almost 

 vertically, this is accompanied with a loss of colour, the drooping and 

 discolduration of the leaflets then extend gradually backwards to the 

 whole leaf. Later on, the tips of the leaflets turn yellow and dry up, 

 followed gradually by the entire leaf, which eventually hangs down, 

 withered, from the crown. The attachment of the leaf sheath to the 

 tree is weakened so that the outer discoloured leaves can be easily 

 torn from the crown one after another, or many together, all the 



leaves are similarly affected Gradually, as the palm weakens, new 



leaves that are put out are smaller than of old. This is apparent even 

 before they unfold from the bud and results in the central shoot 

 which is merely the unopened leafbud becoming stunted and pallid. 

 Later on, it begins to wither and the upper free part turns brown. 

 Eventually it may dry up altogether, but this may not occur for many 

 years. "The top of the stem and the white internal part of the crown 

 are quite normal, except in old cases just before death, when the 

 latter rots. One of the conspicuous marks is the way the nuts are 

 injured. "Even in the first year or two the nuts are affected. 

 They are fewer and smaller than usual, on splitting the husk is 

 found unaltered and usually the shell also. The white kernel is, 

 however, shrivelled and indurated and copra prepared from it is said 

 to be deficient in oil. The fluid inside is reduced in quantity, and is 

 altered in quality, becoming unpalatable to drink. In later stages a 

 large proportion of the nuts drop in an immature condition. In more 

 severe cases the spathes are unable to burst out at all or if they do, 

 rot away early and the palm becomes barren." 



This description fits well the account from Borneo, and seems 

 certainly to be of the same disease, and as it has thus approached so 



