VIII 
PEPPERS 
281 
from 5 to 10 or 15 yds. square, and I may say, killed them off 
outright. As regards the pepper vines, most are attacked at 
the root, though some are attacked a few feet from the ground, 
and very soon afterwards the vine dries up, having affected 
most of the other vines in the neighbourhood. I have tried 
coal tar mixed with water, and paraffin oil, also mixed with 
water, all to no purpose, but I have found great benefit from 
the application of fires lighted in large numbers throughout the 
affected parts, though a great number of vines get scorched and 
die afterwards. 
Of this Mr. Massee writes : — 
The material sent shows that the pepper fungus can 
reproduce itself by two different methods. 
1. The most general form, and the only one when the disease 
spreads from a centre, is by mycelium or spawn, which travels 
in the soil, spreading from plant to plant and destroying the 
roots. When such centres of disease are found they should be 
at once isolated by digging a narrow trench, about 10 in. deep, 
round the diseased patch, thus preventing the outward spread 
of the mycelium, which cannot pass the trench. As there is 
no cure for the plants when the roots are attacked, it would 
be best to remove and burn all plants within the affected area, 
otherwise the diseased plants will form a centre of infection by 
another method. 
2. If the stem of a plant that has been diseased at the root 
for some time is examined, very minute black lumps, just visible 
to the naked eye, will he seen scattered over the surface, and in 
addition small velvety black patches are also very frequently 
present. 
These are two distinct fruiting conditions belonging to the 
fungus, each of which produces myriads of conidia or very 
minute reproductive bodies which are dispersed by wind and 
inoculate other plants. By this method the plants become 
diseased above ground, while the roots remain healthy. 
Nothing short of prompt destruction by burning of all plants 
showing such black lumps or velvety patches can prevent the 
disease by diffusion of conidia. As conidia are dispersed 
mostly by very low currents of air, screens of branches might 
with advantage be erected between the plantation and the 
affected forest region. 
The benefit derived from the fires is explained by the fact 
that each fire forms a vortex, through which a certain volume 
of spore-laden air passes and is purified. 
Where the root form of the disease has shown itself, it 
