and Magazine of the Ceylon Agricultural SooAeti), 



283 



THE DISEASE IN THE COCONUT STEM. 



IMPORTANT LECTURE BY MR. T. PETCH. 



Necessity for Concerted Action. 



Officials, Planters, and Villagers Must 

 Co-opeeate. 



A Re-assuring Discussion. 



The Lowcountry Products Association was 

 furthering an important work in its chapero- 

 nage in the Public Hall, Colombo, on 7th March, 

 of a paper on "The Coconut Stem or Bleeding 

 Disease," read by Mr. T. Petch, Government My- 

 cologist. There was a large attendance, the aud- 

 ience including many prominent coconut growers 

 in the island, a number of whom showed their 

 appreciation of Mr. Petch's effort by shower- 

 ing upon him question upon question when 

 the discussion had ended. The paper expa- 

 tiated at great length upon many points of 

 vital importance to the " grower," and the 

 type of inquiry subsequently indicated the 

 general anxiety that is felt that nothing of 

 usefulness in coping with or preventing the 

 " disease " shall be left undone. 



The lecturer's paper was distinctly reassur- 

 ing, and inspired listeners with confidence 

 that if co-operative action is taken by the 

 few officials, the numerous " planters," and the 

 still more numerous villagers, in the way of ob- 

 taining and supplying accurate reports upon the 

 varying prevalence of the disease, the trouble will 

 not extend to unforeseen distressful dimensions 



Mr James Peiris, Chairman of the Associa- 

 tion, was somewhat late in arrival, but Mr. F. C. 

 Loos presided in the meantime. In introduc- 

 ing the lecturer, he said: — Gentlemen, it is quite 

 by accident that I happen to be in the chair. 

 Our Chairman, Mr. James Peiris, hasnot arrived 

 but I expect he will come later, when I shall 

 vacate my position. One of our principal in- 

 dustries — the coconut industry — is threatened 

 by a very serious disease. There is a good deal 

 of alarm about it, but at the same time I think 

 the alarm is greatly exaggerated. 1 hope it 

 is so. This afternoon Mr. Petch, than whom 

 there is no more capable man in the Island, 

 will deliver a lecture on that disease. 



Among those present were : — The Hon. Mr. 

 F. C. Loos, Hon. Mr. John Ferguson, c.m.g., 

 Messrs. Rudd, J Hsenoinig, A. E. Rajapakse 

 Mudaliyar. Clias. Pieris, J. Covia de Silva, C. 

 Drieberg, J. VanLangenberg, W. Dias Bandara- 

 nayake, G. S. Schneider, A. Y. Daniel, C. Boven, 



H. L. de Mel, T. Muttucoomaraswamy, Solomon 

 Seneviratne, Attapattu Mudaliyar, Drs. Gerald 

 de Saram, H. M. Fernando, W P. Rodrigo, and 

 V. Saravanamuttu, Messrs. L. B. Fernando, F. J. 

 de Mel, Jacob de Mel, C. P. Seneviratne, 

 Johannes de Mel, A. Bawa, F. Morgan de Saram, 

 A. K. Beven, J. P. Fonseka, T. E. de Sarnpayo, 

 A. J. R. de Soysa, C. Namasiwayam, S. D. S, 

 Gunasekera, C. D. Carolis, W. Felsinger, Rajen- 

 dra, and Arsecularatne. 



At the end of the hall Messrs. Walker, Sons 

 & Co., Ltd., and Messrs. Brown & Co., Ltd., 

 had on view collections of agricultural imple- 

 ments—knives, hatches, pumps and sprays, im- 

 plements used for the treatment of the disease. 

 On one of the verandahs were several speci- 

 mens of diseased parts of coconut trees and an 

 arecanut palm, supposed to be suffering from 

 the stem disease. Specimens of diseased nut 

 kernels were also on exhibition. 



Mil. PETCH'S PAPER.' 



A Comprehensive Survey of the Disease 

 and its Treatment. 



I will not waste your time by recapitulating 

 the history of this disease. If you will refer to 

 the Tropical Agriculturist for December, 1906, 

 you will find what was known up to that date. 



It is more important at the present time, 

 when so many theories are being propounded, 

 to explain why and how it has been decided 

 that the disease is caused by a fungus, and is 

 not due to electricity in the atmosphere, or 

 poisons absorbed by the roots, or anything else. 



In the paper referred to, it was stated that 

 a fungus had been found in the decaying stem 

 and that it was probably the cause of the dis- 

 ease. There was some doubt, because bacteria 

 were also found, but this did not alter the con 

 elusion that it was a stem disease, not a root 

 disease. It was admitted in the paper that 

 the point could only be decided by pure cul- 

 tures, and this admission provided an oppor- 

 tunity for some officious remarks regardless 

 of the fact that its decision would not make 

 any difference in the treatment. That, today, 

 is the same as in 1906. 



In 1906, I was not in a position to undertake 

 pure cultures satisfactorily, and therefore in- 

 oculations were made with diseased tissue, in 

 order to prove that the bleeding was a sign of 

 disease. The tree inoculated was an old 

 one, and there was apparently no result. In 

 1907, a fresh series of inoculation was made, 

 with diseased tissues on a young well-grown 



