35i 
the whole fruit assumed a dark brown unhealthy appearance and 
quickly rotted and fell to the ground. Several remedies were tried 
but were not satisfactory ; probably the best was the protecting of 
the young fruits by small bags. As soon as the attack was noted 
the diseased fruits were collected and burnt. 
Phytophthora Blight. The Potato Disease. 
The leaves of the potatos began to die off but did not show the 
characteristic brown spots of this fungus. The tubers, however, on 
examination were found to contain the mycelium of Phytophthora 
infestans. In all probably this fungus had been brought from India 
in the seed tubers. 
Kuala Lumpur, L. Lewton-Brain, 
nth October, 1911. Director of Agriculture, 
F.M.S. 
ABNORMAL RUBBER TREE. 
A planter sends from Johore, a very curious specimen of an 
abnormal growth of a Para-Rubber tree. The trunk, of which the 
lower postion is sent, is II to 12 inches through at the lower end 
and the tree appears to be five years old. It has been tapped, and 
from the tappings run down swellings, thickening downwards between 
each tapping mark. At each cut the swelling ends in a thickened 
rounded lump, commencing again below the next tapping. The 
back covering these swellings contains no latex, a cross section of 
the tree shows bark covered by a peculiar woody out growth as 
much as 2 inches thick in the centre and thinning out to the edges 
forming a semi-circle or semi-cylinder of corky looking wood. 
This mass of out growth is apparently composed of roots which 
have grown in great abundance from the cuts and pushed their way 
through the bark and over the cambium layer, and in part ap- 
parently over the bark. The covered up bark contains latex, but the 
bark over the root out growth does not. We are accustomed to out 
growths of dormant buds on cuts made in the bark of a Para rubber 
tree especially where the wood has been exposed are cut into, but I 
have never met with an example of the effusion of roots from 
tapping in such a way as this. 
Trees which root easily from the branches like Ficus often emit 
from the upper edge of a wound a number of roots which may push 
under the bark below, but in this case they generally push off the 
bark altogether, and leave a mass of ordinary and normal roots. 
In the old tapping marks (half-herring-bone), there seem to be a 
mass of abnormal roots developed, and some of these have run down 
beneath the wood not cut by the tapping. These rdots still contain 
latex even where covered with an inch of wood. No sign of any 
fungus appears on cutting into the wood even from the point at 
