78' 



The Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist 



downwards. I then cut it down and sent a 

 section of the tree with the fungus to Dr. Prain, 

 of the Royal Gardens, Kew, who asked Mr 

 Massee to report upon the thing. I submit his 

 report : — 



Fungus on Para Rubber Tree. 



The fungus proves to be an undescribed species of Eutypcu, 

 and will be called E. caulivora. It is probably a true para- 

 site, judging from what is known respecting other species 

 of Eulypa, a constant feature of which is that the fungus 

 persistently remains in a vegetative— and thus aggressive- 

 condition, so long as its host remains alive, and only comes 

 to the surface to produce fruit when the host is absolutely 

 dead. The numerous black streaks, deep in the wood of 

 the specimen sent, are produced by the mycelium of the 

 fungus, which in all probability permeated the whole of 

 the wood, and had been at work for a considerable period 

 of time Such a development of mycelium is unknown as a 

 post mortem result.— George Massee. 6/iv/lO. 



Dr. Prain adds :— " I do not like the look of the thing at 

 all."— Straits Agricultural Bulletin, for June. 



THE PARA RUBBER INDUSTRY. 



Chronologial Table from 1873 to 1899. 



1873 

 1876 



1877 June, 

 Oct. 



1881 

 1882 



1884 



1885 (circ) 

 1889 



1890 



1891 



1892 



1893 



1895 

 1896 



1897 

 1898 



1899 



1899 June 

 — Straits 



Seeds received at Kew from Mr Collins. 

 Seeds received from Mr Wickham 



First plants arrived in Ceylon. 

 First plants received alive at Singapore. 

 Mr Murton plants the hrst tree in Perak. 

 Trees first fruited in Singapore. 

 Seeds sent to Kuala Kangsar, and planted 



by Mr Wray. First seed also sent to 



Sarawak from Singapore. 

 Dr. Trimen commences to tap the trees in 



Ceylon. 



First fruiting of Ceylon trees. 



Trees first tapped in Singapore, tins used for 

 catching latex. 



First biscuits exhibited at a Horticultural 

 Show, Singapore. 



Rubber sent to Messrs Silver from Singapore 

 Gardens pronounced of very good quality. 



Dr. Trimen sends to Kew 2 lb of rubber 

 grown at lieneratgoda: 



Rubber plants and seeds distributed to all 

 District Officers and Residents in the 

 Federated Malay States to plant near 

 their houses from Botanic Gardens, Singa- 

 pore. (Plants had been distributed to 

 planters for some years previously). 



Mr Kyndersley starts the first practical Es- 

 tate in the Federated Malay States. 



Dr. Willis arrives in Ceylon 



Rubber block and biscuit sent home from 

 the Gardens valued at 2/8. 



Mr Derry sends rubber from Perak valued at 

 2/8 to 3 per pound, 



Mr Curtis sends rubber from Penang valued 

 at 3/3 per lb. 



Mr Tan Chay Yan exhibits plantation grown 

 rubber at Malacca exhibition. 



Mr Derry sends rubber from Perak, sold in 

 England for £«1— 1— 6 (3/10 per lb.] sheet. 



Messrs Parkin and Willis publish the dis- 

 covery of wound response and the method 

 of collecting latex in tins. 

 Agricultural Bulletin, for June. 



COCONUT DISEASE IN JAMAICA. 



The coconut diseases are assuming very 

 serious conditions in my district. During the 

 month of March I have been paying very par- 

 ticular attention to these diseases in Portland, 

 and have been alarmed to find how seriously 

 they are spreading. As you know, coconuts are 

 the main industry of the eastern part of Port- 

 land, and since the hurricane, thousands of 

 young coconuts havi been planted. It is these 



young trees of all ages from eighteen 

 months to ten years 

 that are being attacked. I am prepared 

 to state that along the main road from Sion 



Hill to Hector's River, a distance of eigh- 

 teen miles, there is not half a mile in which 

 1 could not point out sick coconut trees on large 

 properties and in the smaller planters' cultiva- 

 tions. On the 4th instant, I visited Ross Craig, 

 where some thousands of young trees are plan- 

 ted, and found these trees dying in different 

 parts of the property. Here we found trees 

 from two years up to seven or eight years old 

 were being killed out by a beetle that sets up a 

 rot in the heart of the trees. By carefully open- 

 ing up the heart leaf by leaf, it was possible to 

 find the round hole (size of a pistol bullet) on the 

 outer side of the outermost heart leaves or 

 limbs. By dissecting the limb lengthwise, a re- 

 gular channel or groove was found leading up 

 until it broke through on the inner surface of 

 the limb, and the hole continued into the next 

 limb with an interior groove leading up again ; 

 this continued till the heart was reached. Just 

 before the groove reached the surface of the in- 

 ner loaf to come out into the air, in some cases 

 we found largo white grubs with red heads, 

 and in other cases large cocoons formed of the 

 fibre of the coconut limb. These cocoons I took 

 home and have succeeded in hatching out. I 

 also got the grub to crystallize and hatch. I 

 find they are a smallish beetle with a tough 

 beak ; the wings are striped with light brown 

 and the head has two bluish dots on it. I 

 send you a few sketches in colour of the 

 beetle which may be useful to show others, 

 I take it that the beetle lays its eggs in 

 the outer limb; the grub then hatches and 

 burrows its way upwards through the heart 

 till it reaches near the surface ; it then 

 goes into the chrysalis stage, and finally em- 

 erges as a beetle to begin its cycle over again 

 on some other tree. This attack on the tree 



SEEMS TO SET UP A ROT WHICH KILLS THE TREE. 



The important part is that the symptoms are 

 those that accompany the so-called Bud Rot 

 and Root Disease, viz. : gum oozing from the 

 trunk, and shortened, crinkly leaves. All the 

 trees on this property seem to be dying of this 

 disease or rather borer. I sent the beetle, or one 

 of them, to Mr. E J Wortley, but he has not yet 

 sent me the name of it. I find, in an old Jour- 

 nal an article describing some such beetle in 

 Ceylon, is it the same'? The cause of these 

 trees dying had been diagnosed already by 

 Mr, Cradwick and myself as Bud Rot. This 

 find opened my eyes, and on my visit to Darling- 

 ford (a place where there are 37,000 young 

 trees) I found young trees attacked by the same 

 bettle, — found the grubs, the cocoons, and 

 hatched out the beetles. In going over Darling- 

 ford, I was able to point out, in a couple of 

 hours' work, thirteen dying trees, unknown of 

 by the owner ; these trees had not yet reached 

 quite to the dying age. At Fairy Hill and on 

 my own place, however, I have not been able to 

 find any trace of the beetle borer. At Fairy 

 Hill, a place with trees just coming into bearing 

 (7,000 of them), I found in one walk (the oldest) 

 fully fifty per cent, of the trees dying of what is 

 called the Root Disease. By careiul inquiry of 

 the overseer and owner, I found that in no case 

 had they ever seen the heart attacked before 

 the trunk showed signs of disease. This corro- 

 borates my own experience, Moreover, I found. 



