392 



1898. Mr. J. C. Willis in his tapping operations used a clay 

 " gutter made round the tree about six inches above the 

 "ground so arranged as to catch the milk," the other 

 " requisites " were a ^ in. chisel a wooden mallet, and 

 " a number of clean coconut shells." 



Yours truly, 



H. K. Rutherford. 



RAPID DEVELOPMENT OP DIPLODIA. 



A planter writes as follows : — 



"Dear Mr. Ridley, 



This morning I have sent j ou a case containing a dead Hevea 

 tree. On the 6th inst. I found on the Estate a patch of about Vz acre 

 on which all the trees — about 40, 2^ years old Hevea trees — were 

 dead or dying. The trees had apparently been attacked by a disease 

 taking its rise in the fresh shoots and spreading downwards through 

 the branches and the stems. I saw the same trees a week before I 

 discovered them attacked and know surely that they did not show 

 any sickness then. The attack has thus been very sudden and 

 severe. I eradicated all the sick trees and burned them. 



Perhaps this is the branch and stem disease, mentioned in the 

 Bulletin No. 6 of the Department of Agriculture, at any rate it ap- 

 pears to be a serious one." 



No doubt this is the Diplodia, but the specimen never came to 

 hand. 



COCONUT CULTIVATION IN THE F.M.S. 



Mr. L. C. Brown has brought out an useful article on this subject 

 as one of the F.M.S. department of Agriculture Bulletins. Though 

 only consisting of nine pages, it contains in a few words a consider- 

 able amount of information as to selection of sand, cultivation 

 returns and expenses in a handy form for any would-be planter to 

 get an idea of what is to be done and how he can start his plantation. 



There is a large opening for a complete and up-to-date volume 

 on the subject of this most important industry. The only work of 

 the kind is the last edition of Ferguson's all about coconuts and this 

 useful little work might be ten times larger with the general informa- 

 tion on the Coconut tree and its produce that we now possess.— Ed. 



PERSONAL 



Mr. T. Main left the Botanic Gardens Department on the 20th of 

 June last to take charge of a Rubber Estate near Ching, Malacca. He 

 had been in the Gardens Department of the F.M.S. when he joined 

 the Botanic Gardens, Singapore, on April 1st 1 908. He is succeeded 

 by Mr. J. A. Anderson, formerly employed in Kew Gardens, who was 

 appointed on July 2Qth, 1910. — Ed. 



