1 Ocr., 1899. QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 409 
>) 
by the vehicle of seeds. As he points out in another report, ‘“eram” is a 
seed,” and not a “grain” or cereal. It is ay much a seed as a bean or pea, 
and the Regulations under “The Diseases in Plants Act of 1896” absolutely 
prohibit the importation of all trees, plants, fruits, or seeds from India, Ceylon, 
the East Indies, East African Colonies, and from all other countries in which 
the coffee-leaf disease is known to exist, although the Minister for Agriculture 
may, at his discretion, import any such plants or seeds which shall, when so 
imported, be suitably disinfected and detained and grown in close quarantine 
for not less than 12 calendar months. The following is Mr. Tryon’s report :— 
The fact of a package of seeds in process of im portation into the colony 
from India having been seized by the postal authorities at Brisbane, in 
accordance with Regulation 2 of “‘ The Diseases in Plants Act of 1896,” may 
serve as an occasion for dwelling upon the circumstances that have viven rise to 
the existence of the legal enactment under which this action has been taken. 
1, The coffee-growing industry of Ceylon has, in the past, been practically 
wiped out owing to the occurrence of a leaf disease caused by a parastic fungus, 
technically designated Hemileta vastatriz. 
2. The parasite occasioning the malady in question presents, amongst other 
features, the following characters: —Its seeds, or spores, are exceedingly 
humerous, are minute, occur externally upon the host-plant, and with facility 
become detached. Accordingly they are capable of becoming transported long 
distances by the wind, and, being thus brought in contact with foreign objects, 
adhere through being endowed with a specially roughened exterior. Hence 
they may be conveyed to remote countries upon portions of plants or other 
matters that have not at any time been connected with the trees upon which in 
the course of the development of the fungus they have arisen. And insomuch 
as they have also a most persistent vitality, and readily germinate after the 
lapse of many weeks under favourable circumstances of warmth and moisture, 
the origin of the disease in centres, in which its presence has not previously 
been remarked, is accounted for. : 
The facility with which the active agent in oe 
thus become widely disseminated has, with little 
that, since its appearance in Ceylon, Hemileia has 
Continental India, Mauritius, Samoa, Fiji, Java, Sumatra, New Guinea, Natal, 
German East Africa, and Guatemala (Hennings), though not at the present 
day, it is thought, existent in all of these countries. 
In the case of its occurrence in Fiji, Sir William M. 
exceptional opportunities for investigating the subject 
the opinion that it had been brought rot Ceylon 
dentally become attached to the charcoal in whic 
in the case of German East Africa, its origin 
from India. 
Moreover, the possibility of its introduction on plants or seeds into new 
voffee-growing countries is now recognised by both scientific writers and 
Planters alike. Thus the celebrated plant pathologist of Brazil, Professor F. 
Noack, includes the leaf disease in his ‘Molestias das plantas Culturaes 
propagayas pela imporlacao de Sementes emudas,” published at S. Paulo em 
Campinas in 1898. 
And, moreover, regulations, similar in effect to the one in force in Queens- 
land, have been brought into operation both in Jamaica and British Central 
Africa. In the latter instance the prohibitive measures, that were promoted 
through the action of the Planters’ Association of the Shire Highlands, were, 
prior to being made law, submitted by the Foreign Office to the Director 
of the Royal Gardens, Kew, who, in reporting on the matter, expressed 
himself as follows :—‘T am always reluctant to concur in regulations which must 
have a restrictive effect, even if small, on commercial enterprise. But in the 
present case it is impossible to accept the risk of ruining an important and 
eveloping industry, which is an important factor in the successful colonisation 
of British Central Africa. It appears to me that Her Majesty’s Government 
casioning the disease may 
doubt, resulted in the fact 
been reported on coffee in 
acgregor, who had. 
at the time, pronounced 
, its spores having acci- 
h seeds had been packed. So 
was traced to seeds imported 
