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5. It is an undoubted but unfortunate fact that while a disease may 

 exist for a loiig time in what may be considered its native country and 

 do comparatively little mischief, when introduced into a new one, it 

 may develop the greatest virulence. It is for this reason that I view 

 with alarm the present outlook in Barbados. The Phylloxera of the 

 vine affords a case in point. In the New "World it inflicted little ap- 

 preciable damage on the native American vines. When introduced 

 into Europe it spread like wildfire. It can hardly be doubted that it 

 will exterminate the vine of the Old World, which will ultimately only 

 be able to exist when grafted on the stocks of American species. 



6. What disasters a disease like that which has attacked the Sugar 

 Cane can produce is painfully illustrated by the case of coiiee in Ceylon. 

 In 1874-75 that Colony exported a little under a million cwts. of coffee, 

 in 1892 the export had sunk to 43,143 cwts. or less than a twentieth. 

 This was the result of the leaf disease. Ceylon, however, had other 

 resources and it was able to replace the industry, which had been des- 

 troyed first by cinchona, and secondly by tea. 



7. The circumstances in Barbados are widely different. If Sugar 

 cultivation fails, I am quite at a loss to know what is to take its place. 

 You have, I understand, a population of 172,000 or 1,000 to the 

 square mile, practically dependent on it. It is painful to contemplate 

 even the possibility of the disaster which a failure of Sugar cultiva- 

 tion may inflict on the Colony. 



8. I strongly approve of your suggestion to immediately obtain the 

 appointment of a strong Committee to consider the position. Such 

 a Committee should at once take the following steps into serious con- 

 sideration : — 



i. Appointment of a competent and practical man with local know- 

 ledge to take charge of the executive side of the whole matter. He 

 would travel about the Island inspecting the canefields, make himself 

 thoroughly acquainted with the whole subject, and watch the progress 

 of the disease and the effect of remedial measures. 



ii. Obtaining compulsory powers to stamp out the disease wherever 

 it appears. To do this effectively it will no doubt be necessary to give 

 moderate Compensation. Diseased canes should be destroyed by burn- 

 ing on the spot and not unnecessarily carried about. Care should be 

 taken that the clothes of the men employed on the work are not made 

 the vehicle for carrying the spores to uninfected cane fields. 



in. When a field has been badly infected and the canes have been 

 destroyed, it should be cropped with some other plant which must not 

 be maize,, guinea-corn, or any gramineous plant, in order to let the 

 spores which have been left in the ground exhaust themselves. 



iv. A central station should be started for supplying "tops" and 

 " seed cane" of guaranteed healthiness to the planters. 



9. You will observe that the general idea is to stamp out the disease 

 at all costs. 



Believe me, etc., 



W. T. Thiselton Dyer. 



Sir James Shaw Hay, 

 84 Gloucester Place, Portman Square. 



