384 



The Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist 



THE LECTURE ON COCONUT STEM DI- 

 SEASE AND NEWSPAPER CRITICISM. 



It is only now that I have the time to offer a 

 few remarks on the very instructive lecture on 

 the above subject, delivered by Mr. Petch at the 

 Public Hall at the instance of the Low-country 

 Products Association. 



1 think Mr. Petch would have been well- 

 advised, if he had avoided the undignified 

 expedient of trying to refute in his lecture all 

 the newspaper criticisms levelled against him 

 owing to the not satisfactorily-explained delay 

 in combating the disease since it was brought 

 to his notice in May, 1906. It was very 

 oroper for him to show up all the quack reme- 

 dies suggested by those, who, to advertise 

 themselves, give expression to all manner of 

 crude ideas as to the cause of the disease and 

 how it is to be overcome, and with a courage 

 that cannot but extort admiration write above 

 their own names. 



Mr. Petch details at great length how he cul- 

 tivated the fungus which produces the bleeding 

 disease, and how he innoculated certain trees 

 and successfully infected them. The most that 

 all this proves is, that it is possible to artificially 

 infect trees with the fungus. That the hard 

 bark of coconut trees could be successfully in- 

 fected by the bleeding stuff being carried from 

 tree to tree by human beings and animals,is so far 

 surmised pure and simple, for Mr. Petch himself 

 says in his lecture that the system of innocu- 

 lation he practised "is the normal method 

 and the only one that will give reliable re- 

 sults. To attempt to imitate nature by burst- 

 ing the spores on the exterior of a tree is 

 absolutely worthless." Mr. Petch says that his 

 "object is to prove that the disease is infec- 

 tious, and to do that the innoculation must be 

 made under the most favourable conditions." 

 Precisely so. That is all we can admit, that it 

 is possible to infect coconut trees under the 

 " most favourable conditions " of innoculation. 



Mr. Petch states that he was surprised 

 to - find a coconut estate where the fallen 

 fronds and husks were burnt, and it was the 

 first clean coconut estate he had seen. All 

 well cultivated coconut estates — and their 

 name is legion — burn all the fallen fronds at the 

 periodic weedings, usually every two months 

 after every crop is picked. Some estates burn all 

 the husks, some use them to protect supply 

 plants from the attacks of cattle, and others use 

 them for manufacture. There is o^ly one 

 estate I know of where the fronds are collected 



and burnt as they fall. That is possible there 

 because the coconuts are in isolated "topes 1 ' 

 of limited extent, with a watcher in charge 

 of each " tope" whose duty it is to oolleot 

 and burn the fronds as they fall. 



I am not a member of Katana Agri- 

 cultural Society, but a prominent member 

 of it told me with much indignation, that no 

 notice was taken of their representation by 

 the Peradeniya authorities, till the late Mr. 

 Jardine took up the matter. Mr, Petch claims 

 the treatment he suggested in 1906 as all his 

 own. Ordinary readers must be pardoned if they 

 thought otherwise after reading his paper in 

 the December number of the " Tropical 

 Agriculturist." After describing the places where 

 he saw the disease, and the opinions of leading 

 coconut planters on it, he writes : — " The fol- 

 lowing measures were tried several years ago.' > 

 Now this was written in December, 1906, a few 

 months after the disease attracted attention. 

 The conclusion is legitimate that what 

 was tried (not / tried) several years ago, that is 

 before the attention of Mr. Petch was drawn to 

 the disease, were the measures of some one 

 other than Mr, Petch. 



"Much of the criticism arises from a mis- 

 conception of the duties of a Mycologist. . . . 

 Some people seem to think that the Mycologist 

 will go down and carry out the actual treatment. 

 If your Medical Officer of Health advises that 

 certain drains should be cleaned out, you do 

 not expect him to come and do the work." 

 Certainly not. We expect him to see that the 

 work is done and not to content himself with 

 the mere suggestion. The Government thinks 

 so too, for Mr, Petch announced later on 

 that a band of Inspectors was to work under 

 his orders. 



In reply to Mr, Ferguson, Mr. Petch ie re- 

 ported to have said that, in his opinion, the 

 disease is not spreading, only that more 

 aHention is paid to it now, hence the discovery 

 of large numbers of affected trees. A rash 

 statement this for a 'Scientist. Every practical 

 planter, who has paid attention to the disease, 

 will assert the contrary and that every 

 round his men take of the estate, new trees 

 are discovered with the disease and new dis- 

 ease patches are found on the trees treated 

 previously. In 1906 I could not discover one 

 single diseased tree on the estate I am writing 

 from, though I looked out for the disease 

 carefully. Now thousands of trees are affected. 



As I stated often, the disease is practically 

 harmless on old trees with hard wood, but is 

 very serious on young plantations. 



The pace the Government adopts to stamp 

 out the disease in the native holdings is not 

 one that kills. I wonder whether even one 

 Insptctor has been sent out. B. 



