The Red Smut Fungus { Trichosphceria sacchari, Massee). A 
good deal has been written about this deadly pest, chiefly h 
the Kew Bulletin, and Annals of Botany, VII, 515 (G. Massee), 
and also in Dutch papers by Went, &c. 
The fungus is reported as very injurious in the West Indies and 
Java, and is also very plentiful in the Straits Settlements. The 
mycelium attacks the centre of the cane producing a conspicuous 
red colouring. At first the fibre bundles in the stem are coloured 
and appear as red streaks, then the surrounding tissue be* 
comes red, and eventually the cane becomes thoroughly infected, 
and the centre becomes black and rotten. Not only does the 
cane in bad cases become quite spoiled, but even where the dis- 
ease has not progressed far enough for this and the cane is only 
partly affected, the sugar is altered and there is a considerable 
loss. Eventually if left the fungus produces its fructification in 
the form of black raised dots on the rind of the cane, which when, 
fully developed push out black sooty thread-like processes, 
consisting of the spores. 
For some time it was thought that the fungus could only get 
an entrance into the cane through the boring made by the moth 
borer ( Chilo ) or one of the other insects which burrow into it, biff 
though it is very common to see an attack commencing in anc 
round a burrow, experiments made at Kew showed that the fun 
gus could attack the cane through the remains of dead leaf-base 
and scars formed by broken branches and roots. In the grea 
majority of cases I have seen the attack seemed to arise from tht 
burrow of a borer. 
As the fungus is at least very likely to attack canes when cu 
or wounded in any way, it is clear that trashing by the aid of 
knife should on no account be permitted. Indeed on most e£ 
tates this is strictly prohibited, but coolies will use a knife h 
save themselves trouble when they can and this should be care- 
fully looked after. 
The cuttings to be planted should be carefully looked over tc 
see if all are sound and healthy. To plant infected cuttings no 
only spoils the crop, but may produce the infection of others. I 
many instances I have seen all the canes on a stool stunted an 
useless or thoroughly infected with disease. Very badly affectec 
cuttings do not grow at all. Examination showed that the ori 
ginal cutting was quite eaten up with the fungus down to tli 
very roots. I have also seen in some fields a large proportion o 
diseased cuttings put by for planting, none of which were fit foi 
use. In cases where cuttings are taken from Chinese cultivators 
special care is required, as owing to the carelessness of Chinese 
planters, disease is, as a rule, much more prevalent than it is in 
fields under European management. 
All diseased canes or parts of canes should be burnt or thrown 
into water, the former by preference. No pieces should be lefi 
on or near the fields. When left upon the ground as is often th 
case, the fungus very quickly develops spores which are drifte< 
about over the field by the first puff of wind. Nowadays it i 
