JUNE 1, 1894.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
809 
mentioned blisters, but this accident must be of 
very rare occurrence. 
Only as a reminder would I here mention the 
epiphytal plants, such as the Peperomia, the ferns, 
the mosses and the lichens which are commonly 
met with on the stems of the Coffee-trees without 
occasioning any injury. 
The woody parasites of the family of Loranthacea 
have seemed to ma very exceptional on the Colfee- 
tree and the damage -hey caused of no consideration. 
Turning now to the funguv, which I suppose to 
be the cause of the chief Ooffee-disease in Costa 
Kica, I confess that my microscopical investigations 
liave had to be most superficial. I saw at a glance 
that with the scanty resources at my command, 
the identification of the parasite would be altogether 
impossible. Consequently, I deemed it preferable 
to make numerous preparations of the infected 
branches, leaves and berries, with the object of 
sending them to specialists in phytopathologia, to 
whom the diseases of the Ooffe -tree would be 
familiar. On the other hand it has been perfectly 
impossible for me to ascertain whether there ex 
isted in botanical li'erature documents which u-eated 
specially on this subject, and, il I had gone on with 
the micrographic study which I had undertaken, it 
would have been to have risked doing, superficially 
and badly, a work which, perhaps, had been com- 
pleted with dispatch and perfection in some other 
country. 
With such an idea, I abstain altogether from any 
attempt at a systematic identification of the said 
fungus, and moreover I make once for all express 
reservations concerning a possible case of hetercecia. 
I do not possess any precise dates referring to 
the appearance of this disease in Costa Rica, and 
yet I fear that its invasion is recent, and tbat the 
planters confound it with others more ancient and 
less destructive. Now-a-days and in consequence of 
the considerable increase in commercial relations 
between the various countries, the propagation of 
diseases of all sorts is more than ever to be feared. 
And, in a climate like that of Costa Rica, crypto- 
gamic epidemics are immediately invested with a 
character of exceptional gravity, for they meet with 
a medium excessively favourable to their develop- 
ment : the alternations of intense heat and torren- 
tial rains appear as though ordained tor the very 
pui'pose. It is also necessary not to forget that 
the Coffee is here an acclimatised plant, deblitated 
by high cultivation and offering to infectious agen- 
cies a resistance much weaker than one living in 
its own country and in a wild state. 
In case the Coffee disease should end in causing 
great injury to Costa Rica — an event we cannot 
yet foresee — it would be imperative to take energetic 
measures to prevent its propagation, destroying by 
fire the first centres of infection. This is the only 
method of getting rid of the millions of spores, 
which, endowed with a wonderful vitality, only need 
a favourable opportunity to germinate and propa- 
gate themselves. 
Yes : unfortunately these prophylactic means might 
be illusory ; I should then take to curative measures. 
Henceforth I consider myself to be in a position 
to be certain that, if the disease is located in the 
leaves and branches, I could combat it at the very 
outset, by applying the processes which modern 
science has popularized in the analogous cases of 
other cultivated plants. 
I now interrupt these few notes on my own ob- 
servations, Mr. .Minister, soliciting your kind au- 
thority to follow out this oxaminatioii only barely 
outlined here. I should want, in the first instance, 
to be placed in communication with some specialists 
with tno object of elucidating the classification of 
this fungus and of acquainting myself with all 
that has hitherto been done in relation to the 
diseases of Coffee. It would l)c absolutely necessary 
also that the lotanical library of our Institute 
should be enricliod with the principal works treating 
of the natural and pathological history of tlic 
(Joffe-tree. Finally, it is evident that in order to 
make a general study of the disease iu the country, 
it would be necessary to take journeys through the 
entire zone of the cultivation of the shrub, and 
also to be possessed of sufficient leisure. Under 
these conditi ns alone could I prepare the detailed 
information which you required of me, and the 
plan of which I submit beforehand for your illaa- 
trious approval. 
I. The History and Etiology of the Coffee-disease 
in Costa Rica, 
II. Causes of the Disease. The Fungus parasite. 
Its classification, description, cultivation and 
development. 
III. Seat of the disease. Branches, leaves, fruit. 
Nature of the alterations produced. 
IV. Propagation of the disease. Resistance of 
the Coffee-plants according to their variety, age, 
exposure, the soil and climate. 
V. Importance of the injuries caused by the 
disease. 
VI. Measures preventive and curative. 1. Pre- 
ventive. Destruction of the contagious organ- 
isms. 2. Curative. Employment of Sulphur, 
lime, &c. 
VII. Bibliographical investigations, especially in 
the publications of the countries producing Coffee. 
II. 
The only work that I was able to obtain in San 
Jose relative to the diseases of Coffee, and which 
I attentively read through was the following : — 
Doctor Emilio Gfjldi. Report upon the Disease of the 
Coffee-tree in the Province of Rio de Janeiro. 1987. (Re- 
latorio sobre a molestia do cafeeiro na provincia 
do Rio de Janeiro.) 
Doctor Goldi, a Swiss savant, devoted himself for 
14 months to the study of the Coffee disease in 
Brazil at the recommendation and under the auspices 
of the Minister of Agriculture. On undertaking this 
difficult work, he asked for and obtained the assis- 
tance of 12 foreign botanists, all eminent specialists, 
and of 5 zoologists equally noted. Some Brazilian 
scientists also united in these labours, whose joint 
product is a work of profound learning. 
In it is described with the greatest minuteness the 
terrible Coffee-disease which caused enormous losses 
in Brazil. In 20 years the contagion spread over a 
territory of 3,000 kilometres or say 300,000 square* 
hectares, and until 1887, the Government only 
attempted a few timid prophylactic measures, From 
that date we lack details concerning the result of 
the struggle en aged in. 
The propagation of the disease in the plantations 
is circular, and the bushes attacked are disposed 
in is'ets, which remind on" of the phylloxera patches. 
In the infected zones, the sickly or withered stocks 
had almost entirely lost their leaves, the branches 
were dried up, and the spark of life that remained 
in the plant only showed itself by some abortive 
sprouts that sprang from the bottom of the stem. 
Ths plague assumed an aspect called explosive, in 
which 8 tc 15 days were enough to wither up the 
bush. In this case, the leaves were found scorched 
as though suffering from the action of a violent 
fire that had been lighted in its neigh'^ourhooil. 
The ordinary symptoms of the disease are the 
following : the leaves lose their horizontal position 
and turn to the right or left, their edges curl up 
in an abnormal manner, the characteristic glossi- 
ness of the lamina disappears, and is replaced by 
a yellowish colour, and they do not take long to 
fall oft'. But the real seat of the disease lies in 
the roots, covered with warts, which are due to a 
thread-like grub. Tlie formation of the warts, easily 
distinguished by the naked eye, begins the moment 
the disease plainly declares itself, and continues ti 1 
the death of the Coffec-tiee. 
Doctor G'ildi makes known the thread-worin un- 
der the name of Mcloiilcjifiie eri(/ua, and in several 
pages of his splendid report deals with its biology 
in a masterly way. 
The same naturalist discovered in the roots of 
the sickly plants the luycelia of fungi whose ordinary 
» A hectare equals 11,960. 3S Eng. sq. yds.— A;ifiP. 
