82 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [August r, 1888. 
is, therefore, about 50,000/ annually. The other 
British West India Islands do little or nothing in 
cocouuts. Tobago, so depressed in every industry, 
has, however, made some progress in the planting 
of coconut palms, and before long she may show a 
respectable item in her export list for these commer- 
cial nuts Her present export is about 800,000 nuts, 
of the value of 2,500?. At Grenada, St. _ Vincent, 
St. Lucia, Dominica, Antigua, and other islands of 
the Leeward group, coconuts are grown more or 
less successfully, but the greater number of the nuts 
are consumed locally. Indeed, as contributing to the 
food supply of the inhabitants, and as entering into 
almost every item of their daily life, the coconut 
palm is invaluable. Hence it may be safely esti- 
mated that for the whole of the West India Islands, 
the annual value of the produce of the coconut 
palm is double of that exported, and may be placed 
at about 100,0007. 
It is somewhat remarkable, and a strange anom- 
aly in West Indian economies, that the tropical and 
fertile island of Barbados should be unable to grow 
coeonuts sufficient for its own wants. This, however, 
is the fact. To begin with, Barbados has a teem- 
ing population of about 140,000 souls, and nearly 
every foot of its beautifully-kept and productive soil 
is devoted to the growth of sugar cane and sweet 
potato. A few coconut palms are seen to fringe the 
coast, but they do not provide a morning drink of 
the delicious " coconut water" to a tithe of the in- 
habitants. Hence cocouuts are imported to Barbados 
from any of the neighbouring islands that ciu 
spare them, and they provide at once meat and drink 
to the densely-packed black population, that would 
otherwise have to subsist on flyiug fish and sweet 
potatoes or American corn meal. It is not, however, 
a matter of choice as regards growing coconuts at 
Barbados. For many years the few trees attempted 
to be grown there have presented more or less 
diseased conditions, and the produce in nuts has been 
very small. In 1880 Mr. D. Morris, Director of 
Public Gardens and Plantations at Jamaica, investi- 
gated the condition of the coconut palms at Barbados, 
and fouud they were attacked by a small scale 
insect, which covering the underside of the fronds, 
destroyed them as soon as they attained maturity. 
The disease was general, and affected every palm 
alike. As long as this disease is present in force 
it is hopeless to attempt to grow coconuts at Bar- 
bados. Since 1880 Mr. Morris' attention has been 
given to the condition of coconut palms in other 
parts of the West Indies, and naturally those in 
Jamaica have come under particular notice. 
In 1882, a disease very similar to that at Barbados 
was found in certain portions of Jamaci i, but it is 
evidently not confined either to Barbados or Jamaica, 
but is more or less prevalent everywhere in the West 
Indies. In a recent report on the subject, from 
which we are privileged to make a few extracts, Mr. 
Morris classes the diseases to which cocouuts in the 
West Indies are liable under two heads, viz., ' the 
coconut beetle and the scale insect. As regards the 
coconut beetle, the attacks of this insect are con- 
fined to the trunk of the coconut palm or to . the 
terminal bud, sometimes called the " cabbage. " If 
a tree is suffering from the attacks of the beetle 
the first iigns will appear among the young leaves 
in the centre of the crown of fronds. These will 
have a withered, drooping aspect, becoming more 
and more pronounced as time goes on, until at last 
the whole head will turn brown and withered. With 
the occurrence of the first strong breeze the head 
falls off, leaving nothing but the bare stem remain- 
ing. The best cure for the beetle, if noticed in 
time, is a handful of salt or unslacked lime dusted 
into the centre of the palm, which will gradually 
dissolve and find its way into the leafbud, where 
the beetle is at work, and destroy it. This, however, 
can only be conveniently done when the palm is 
young and within easy reach. Fortunately, however, 
although many coconut trees are destroyed by the 
pulm beetlo, its ravages are not serious at present, 
and it is quite possible they may never become so. 
With the scale insect, however, it is different- 
During the last five years this insect has become 
more and more prevalent on coconut estates in 
Jamaica, and Mr. Morris appears to have corres- 
ponded with planters in different parts of the Island, 
and kept the disease under observation during the 
whole time. The result of his investigations, as detailed 
in the report above mentioned, are briedy a-> follows : — 
The scale insect, in appearance like a minute oyster 
or limpet, attaches itself to the underside of the 
fronds of the coconut palm, and covers them with 
a thin silvery coating, which rubs off when scraped 
with a knife. Underneath the scale, — one of which is 
only about the twelfth part of an inch in length,— 
there lies an insect armed with a proboscis, by 
means of which it penetrates into the tissue of the 
frond and sucks up its juices Generally, when lift- 
ing up one of the scales, there is found, not only 
the female scale-insect, but also a large number of 
eggs, which, when hatched, give rise to a colony of 
small scale insects. These ultimately escape by a small 
hole in the scale, or general covering, It will be 
noticed that the coconut palm suffers from the scale 
insect by the loss of its juices, absorbed from the 
leaves by the myriad colonies of insects clustered 
beneath them. The disease spreads by the colonies 
of scale insects being carried from tree to tree, or 
from estate to estate, by the wind. It was first 
noticed in force in the parish of St. Mary's, Jamaxa. 
Like the aphis blight which appeared on sugar canes 
some years ago, the scale insect has spread in the 
direction of the trade winds, and affected estates to 
the south and west. Th ■ first appearauce of the 
scale disease is shown by the outer frond turning 
brown and withered, and ultimately becoming quite 
dead and dry. In this respect it differs from the 
beetle, where the head is first affected and the outer 
leaves only at the last. If the scale disease Is persis- 
tent it gradually spreads from the outer to the inner 
leaves, but, so far as Mr. Morris' observations are con- 
cerue I, the scale disease does not destroy the trees, 
although it weakens them to such an extent as to 
spoil their bearing. To planters the most important 
considerations, however, are, — (1) How has the disease 
arisen? and (2) How may it be checked or removed '? 
Quoting a very valuable little book, by Miss Ormerod 
called "A Manual of Injurious Insects," lately reviewed 
in these columns, Mr. Morris expresses his opinion 
that this disease has spread owing to the unpreced- 
ented prevalence of dry weather, in the West laities, 
and he finds that the severer the drought the worse 
the disease. " Insects of this class multiply most quick- 
ly in dry weather, and on plants which are sickly 
from drought, exhaustion by insect attack or other 
causes ; so that all measures of cultivation tending 
to produce vigorous healthy growth are serviceable in 
counteracting attack ; and where circumstances allow 
of the application of liquid manure, or of water to an 
extent to make the plant food in the soil invaluable 
and push on growth that otherwise was being checked 
by drought, such treatment would be desirable." 
Several other points are touched upon, such as that 
coconut palms grown inland, where there is an absence 
of salt in the soil, being less able to resist the disease, 
suffer more than those near the sea ; that where practi- 
cable, coconuts should have a good dressing of 
manure applied to their roots as soon as the disease 
appears, and that irrigation be applied whenever practi- 
cable. As regards other treatment, Mr. Morris men- 
tions that the fronds affected by the scale insects 
should be cut down and that they should be heaped 
up and gradually burned under the trees to give off 
as much smoke as possible, without, however, injuring 
the foliage by heat. In fact, it is believed that by 
thoroughly smoking the insects in the first stages they 
may be destroyed, but beyond that it is hopeless to 
cope with a di ease so widespread in its habit or so 
difficult to bring under careful treatment. It is 
somewhat consolatory to learn that in Mr. Morris' 
opinion the disease is likely to be greatly reduced on 
the return of regular rains, and that it cannot ultimately 
affect the value of coconut properties in Jamaica. 
Planters in the meantime are, however, specially urged 
