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near to the Malay Peninsula it is ver)^ desirable that a watch be kept 

 for its appearance here. 



The disease is not situated in the bud of the tree, but in the roots, 

 which are attacked by a parasitic fungus belonging to the genus 

 Botryodiplodia, at least this fungus appears always to occur on the 

 rotting roots of trees affected by this disease. The destruction of the 

 lateral roots cuts off the water supply of the palm so that the bud 

 dies of drought and starvation. 



The death of the palms is very slow. " Young palms may be killed 

 in five years, but this is exceptional. Eight or ten years appears to 

 be a more usual period, while in many cases the disease progresses 

 enough to cause barrenness but fails to kill the tree outright. Thus, 

 in one large gardenonly two hundred coconut palms were in bearing 

 out of about two thousand, while the deaths were not numerous." 



" The disease is worst in heavy alluvial valleys and poor laterite 

 hill soils. It is least severe in the sandy soil of the littoral. There is 

 plenty of evidence that the disease is infectious. A palm evidently 

 affected and brought from an infected district ten years ago was 

 planted in a garden where the trees were all healthy. A few years 

 later, it began to turn yellow and others near by were attacked ; now 

 thirteen trees are affected and the original one is dead and the disease 

 has spread to neighbouring gardens." 



The disease attacks not only coconuts, but betelnuts, and 

 caryotas. The treatment recommended is destruction of all diseased 

 palms whether they be only just attacked or practically dying. The 

 roots should be dug out and with the stem leaves burnt at once. Lime, 

 preferably quick lime, should be well dug in to the infected spot, and 

 the ground frequently dug over to break up and aerate the soil. If 

 necessary, the soil should be drained, as undrained or insufficiently 

 drained soil affects the roots injuriously and the weeds on the ground 

 destroyed, and manuring with cow dung or nitrogenous fertilizers 

 should be tried. No plants should be planted in the infected spot for 

 a year after the removal of the diseased trees. 



As in the case of most at least of these underground root fungi, 

 the progress is comparatively slow, so that it should be possible if 

 taken in time to stop an outbreak with the loss of a very few trees, 

 but in order to do this plantations must be carefully examined, and 

 any tree exhibiting the symptoms described above should be destroyed 

 and removed as quickly as possible. 



There is another bud-ot disease in India produced by the fungus 

 Pythium palmivoriim in which the siioot is actually attacked by the 

 fungus. The withering of the shoot at an early stage is the most 

 characteristic feature. The first symptom is the turning white of a 

 whole leaf towards the centre of the crown, the bud then turns white, 

 rots and the crown falls off, the whole of the "cabbage" becoming 

 converted into a putrid, foul-smelling mass. The whole palm is killed 



