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A vigilant watch must be kept for outbreaks of the disease; 
By careful work almost all loss can be prevented ; by carelessness all 
affected palms, and perhaps very many in a group or groups, may 
be lost. The treatment, mentioned above is quite reliable whatever 
the causal fungus may prove to be. 
Bud-rot . — Oases of this disease have been reported on several of 
the estates visited regularly by me. 
The characteristic feature of the disease is the rotting of the 
terminal bud and surrounding soft tissues including the apex of the 
stem. The first sign is the turning yellowish white of the young leaf 
which has just opened ; following this the central unopened leaf 
becomes discoloured and in a short time all the unopened leaves and 
the growing point or apex of the stem decay and putrefy, the whole 
“ cabbage ” being converted into a soft, foul smelling, putrid mass. In 
tlie majority of cases which 1 have seen the older leaves appear 
at the stage when the “ cabbage ” decays to be quite healthy. 
There is no indication of any organism other than bacteria in 
the affected parts of diseased palms in the Malay Peninsula. 
Earle, Smith, Jonston, and Petcb all considered that the disease 
was attributable to bacteria. Butler, the Imperial Mycologist in 
India, described in 1906 a severe epidemic of disease among palmyra 
and other palms in the Godaveri district, of the East Coast of India. 
The disease was confined to a limited area in the delta of the 
Godaveri river. The cause of the disease was stated, as a result of 
field and microscopic examination, to be a fungus belonging to tlie 
genus Pythinm, a description of which, under the name Pythium 
potto arum, was published in 1907. 
All these reports have been made within the last few years. 
“The History and Cause of the Coconut Bud-rot” by Jonston, 
published by the United States Department of Agriculture, gives 
a very full account of the disease, and the author of that paper has 
shown quite conclusively by repeated inoculation experiments that 
the West Indian “ bud-rot ” is due to bacteria almost identical with 
Bacillus coli. 
It is believed that birds and insects are carriers of the disease. 
Whether or not the wounds are necessary for the introduction of the 
bacterial organisms, which are certainly pathogenic, into the tissue 
of tlie plant I am unable to say, Rorer found that lie was able to 
produce the disease by pouring a culture of Bacillus coli into the 
crown of a healthy tree which apparently was unwounded. 
When the apical growing point is affected there can be no 
remedy. To save other palms it is necessary to cut down all dead 
trees and destroy all affected parts with as little delay as possible. 
It may not be possible to burn the infected material but every effort 
should be made to get rid of it. By drenching with Bordeaux 
