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COCONUT PALM DISEASE. 
We have lately received from a correspondent, in Borneo, an 
account of a serious disease in coconuts, which bears so great a 
resemblance to that known as bud-rot, which has hitherto only been 
met with in India and Ceylon, at least in this part of the world, that 
it seems highly probable that it is identical. Our correspondent, Mr. 
E. Hose, describes it as follows: “The leaves turn yellow and the 
fruit, if there is any, hangs limp, the leaves drop down and gradually 
die, the stem of the tree gets thinner and thinner near the top, then 
the centre shoot drops out, apparently having rotted ; inside the 
heart, at the top, it is like rotten wood-mud. It seems to attack trees 
of any age. Trees on wet or dry land are affected by it. According to 
native stories, it has only put in an appearance since the last two 
years.” A very valuable and full account of an exactly similar disease 
is published in the Bulletin of the Agricultural Research Institute of 
Pusa, Np. 9, March, 1908 by Mr. E. T. Butler, the Imperial mycologist. 
He says : ( p. 5 ) As a general rule, the first indication that a coconut 
palm is attacked is the opening out of the outer leaves from the 
head. The leaf stalk becomes slightly flaccid and the weight of the 
leaf causes the whole to drop. Then the ends of the pinnae or leaflets 
at the extremity of the leaf become flaccid and hang down almost 
vertically, this is accompanied with a loss of colour, the drooping and 
discolouration of the leaflets then extend gradually backwards to the 
whole leaf. Later on, the tips of the leaflets turn yellow and dry up, 
followed gradually by the entire leaf, which eventually hangs down, 
withered, from the crown. The attachment of the leaf sheath to the 
tree is weakened so that the outer discoloured leaves can be easily 
torn from the crown one after another, or many together, all the 
leaves are similarly affected — Gradually, as the palm weakens, new 
leaves that are put out are smaller than of old. This is apparent even 
before they unfold from the bud and results in the central shoot 
which is merely the unopened leafbud becoming stunted and pallid. 
Later on, it begins to wither and the upper free part turns brown. 
Eventually it may dry up altogether, but this may not occur for many 
years. “The top of the stem and the white internal part of the crown 
are quite normal, except in old cases just before death, when the 
latter rots. One of the conspicuous marks is the way the nuts are 
injured. “Even in the first year or two the nuts are affected. 
They are fewer and smaller than usual, on splitting the husk is 
found unaltered and usually the shell also. The white kernel is, 
however, shrivelled and indurated and copra prepared from it is said 
to be deficient in oil. The fluid inside is reduced in quantity, and is 
altered in quality, becoming unpalatable to drink. In later stages a 
large proportion of the nuts drop in an immature condition. In more 
severe cases the spathes are unable to burst out at all or if they do, 
rot away early and the palm becomes barren.” 
This description fits well the account from Borneo, and seems 
certainly to be of the same disease, and as it has thus approached so 
