420 
and advising measures for its prevention. It is viewed 
with alarm by many planters, but if the directions I have 
laid down for its treatment are followed, it will ultimately 
be stamped out. In fact I believe that its method of in- 
fection combined with the energy which most planters are 
exhibiting in grappling with it, if strenuously continued, 
will ensure its disappearance from all plantations before 
the trees are four years old. 
Excrescences on Bark. — On old Para trees three types 
of excrescence make their appearance on the lower four or 
live feet of the stem: 
Firstly, small nodules, usually called “peas,” because 
they are generally first noticed when they are such a size, 
and found on trees of three years and older, both tapped 
and untapped . They have a sharp fang-like ‘ ‘ root, * ’ which 
comes from the wood through the cambium. The “peas” 
are easily knocked out with a chisel or the back of a knife, 
and the wound soon heals over. Most planters have special 
coolies detailed off to remove these excrescences. 
Secondly, large outgrowths of all sizes up to four or 
five feet long, a couple of feet wide, and of various thickness 
up to six inches, occur on tapped trees and on tapped areas. 
These can usually be prized back, and break off, exhibiting 
a “root” of a few square inches, and continuous with the 
wood of the tree. They look like much malformed branches 
and may arise from dormant or from adventitious buds. 
Some planters say they are due to bad tapping. Numbers 
of the nodules already mentioned often occur on these out- 
growths. As they grow over the original bark and cam- 
bium, they are amenable to treatment. If broken off, the 
true cambium soon regenerates a new bark, and only the 
“root” remains uncovered, and this heals over- in time. I 
always advise covering the “root” with tar. There are 
many indications that these larger growths are the “peas” 
which were not excised. 
Thirdly, a less common form appears as a swelling 
of the stem of the tree and cannot be removed like the 
others. 
My investigations have not succeeded in associating a 
living organism, insect, bacterium or fungus with these out- 
growths. _ It seems not improbable that the third form, at 
any rate, is due to some derangement of the internal econo- 
my of the tree. Many of the individual cells of the swelling 
are much beyond the ordinary size, and frequently an ex- 
cessive flow of latex occurs round the edges of the out- 
growths. 
