point to there beiuf^ two fungi, as many fungi produce 
different kinds of I’enroductive bodies, and my obser- 
vations leal me to expect that in this case there 
will be a third kind of spoie which will bs found 
and will complete the reproductive bodies produced 
by this fungus. But as 1 wish this report to deal 
only with observed facts, I will not enter into any 
details with regard to this third form of spores 
With regard to the experiments v/hich have been 
occupying my attention. In the first place I ex- 
perimented with the pod disease and in the follow- 
ing manner ; I took a number of pods in different 
stages of ripening and inoculated them, inserting 
into a small space previously cut a piece of diseased 
tissue taken from another pod. I put the diseased 
portions in at varying depths and at different parts 
of the pod — thus, one was nea^r the stalk and al- 
most supeifloial, and another was much deeper and 
half Way down the pod. In all the pods the dis- 
ease was speedily induced, and in some of them 
in five days the whole pod became brown and the 
tissue full of the mycelium of the fungus. I hose 
pods that were inoculated near the end of the 
pod took the disease soonest, and as might be 
expected, where they were inoculated more deeply 
it began first. After some 8 days the spores of the 
fungus were produce 1 in the furrows of one or two 
pods. From these facts tve learn that the time taken 
for the disease to destroy the pod is comparatively 
short (as is the case w'ith most fungi inhabiting soft 
tissue),! should estimate about ten days from date of 
attack, and much less than that from the time the 
disease is first noticed on the pod. 
The experiments with regard to the canker in the 
stem were more elaborate. I selected a number of 
trees 5-7 years old in different parts of the es- 
tate, and chiefly in new clearings of both Foras- 
tern and Red varieties, all of which to all 
appearances were entirely free from disease, and v.'hose 
tissues showed no sign of mycelium when examined 
under microscope. These I proceeded to treat by in- 
oculation. The method of inoculation adopted was to 
make a slanting cut so as to expose all the different 
tissues from the cortex to the old wood and to insert 
by means <f a paint brush the spores, or in the case 
of those inoculated with diseased bark to insert a 
thin slice, and these cuts were then bound up firmly. 
I used some 30 trees and treated them in the 
following way : — 
1st. 13 trees inoculated with the smaller spores, 
which I have previously described. 
2nd. 6 with .the secondary septate spores. 
3rd. 10 with diseased bark coutaining mycelium. 
In each of these treatments both Forastero and 
Red Cacao were used, and in one or two oases suckers 
were also treated. 
Since these experiments were being carried on in 
an extremely dry season and the atmosphere was 
very different from the rainy times when the disease 
undoubtedly spreads, I wished to imitate as far as 
possible the conditions which are to be found in 
the wet seasons and so place these inoculated 
parts under the most favourable conditions for the 
germination of the fungi. I therefore kept them damp 
by means of moist paddy straw, which was tied on to 
the tree, and re-v/etted daily, after I had examined the 
case ; in cases where the sun had access and was likely 
to dry this up rapidly I placed shades over the part 
treated. 
These were carefully watched for any sign of the 
disease, and, as will be supposed, those inoculated 
with the diseased bark containing the mycelium 
were the first to show any sign, and first of all 
a Red Cacao produced the sporophores of the 
fungus after 9 days, and all the other Red Cacao, 
followed suit and acquired the disease with the ex- 
ception of one tree in which the wet straw treat- 
ment had been intentionally omitted. In the case of 
the three Forestero trees treated with diseased bark, 
one has, up to the time of writing, taken the disease 
and the other two are in a suspicious condition. 
In the eleven cases treated with the smaller 
spores, six were Forastero and seven Red Cacao. 
Three of the Red have developed symptoms after 
more than 15 days, and one of the Forestero. 
The cases treated with secondary spores (those 
described as crescent shaped and septate) have 
none of them at present shown any sign of the 
disease. 
The external signs of the canker are being carefully 
observed and recordei and permanent micx-oscopic 
pi'eparatious made of its various stiges, as well as 
many other observations and draw ings which at pre- 
sent have no significance, but which, with the pro- 
gress of the investigation, may be useful in throwing 
light on many questions of interest. 
Usually the first external sign of disease is a moist 
spot on the tree wife often a drop of claret or brown 
coloured liquid exuding from it. When this 
runs over the surface of the bark it gives it a 
rusted appearance — later the sporophores burst 
through the bark at different places, being at first 
white in colour and changing gradually to a red or 
brown — the size of these sporophores varies from 
that of a pin’s head to almost the size of a pea, 
and the shape is as a rule round or oval. In the 
cases on older bark they are forced through the 
cracks already existing in the bark, and thus they 
appear more or less in vertical lines. The tissue is 
at first of a neutral tint, and later becomes brown 
and finally dark claret coloured. In most of the 
cases observed the fungus seems to spread more 
rapidly round the tree than verticallj, but the rapidity 
of growth varies in the different trees and no opinion 
can be as yet formed as to this most important 
matter. 
The three trees not kept moist by means of wet 
paddy straw have none of them acquired the disease 
and this during the recent dry weather is as expected. 
In regard to the trees which have developed s) mptoms 
of che canker, those inoculated with tissue containing 
the mycelium would not usually be sooner affected 
than those treated with spores — just as transplanting 
is quicker than growing from seed. No doubt much 
valuable knowledge as to means of prevention or cure 
will be gained from these trees as well as that for 
which the experiments were instituted, the observation 
of the different stages of growth of the fungus. 
With regard to the future work, the main ques- 
tions still to be solved by observation and experiment 
are the following : — The conditions of heat or dry- 
ness which will prove fatal to spores. The time — 
if any special time exists — for the formation of each 
kind of spore. The means by which the spores 
gain entrance into the tissues of the stem, whether 
they first germinate outside the bark or get in by 
a wound— -and in this connection it must be re- 
membered that the spores being of such a minute 
character need no appreciable wound. To give some 
idea of their size — in the case of the small spores 
first mentioned more than 50 milliou would be required 
to cover with one layer a square half inch, which 
is about the same superficial area as a tea 
cent piece. 
Another extremely important question on which I 
am making many observations and experiments is 
the questions of the effect of heat and dry atmos- 
phere on the cankered spots of the tree. I have 
observed in many cases that the characteristic moist 
claret coloured tissue dries up, and on cutting has 
all the appearance of dead wood. In these cases the 
mycelium is not to be found in a microscopic 
examination, and if present at all must be in a 
dried up and probably entirely lifeless condition. 
The conditions which bring this about and 
whether the tree subsequently forms new 
and healthy tissue at the spot are pro- 
blems which must be discovered. The ques- 
tion of the effect of cutting out portions of the 
canker how far in bad cases it is practicable, and 
what measures should be taken, if any, for protec- 
tion of the wound is of great practical importance 
and will be experimented on at different estates where 
the conditions vary. 
So far as these investigations have gone— and they 
are of course in an incomplete state— though certain 
