Abstract

Visitors to Coimbatore during the months of January and February would not have failed to notice that many of the neem trees assume a rather distressful aspect, by reason of the presence of large numbers of dead and wilting twigs. The leaves of such twigs droop down unnaturally, wither into an abnormal yellow brown colour and ultimately drop off, leaving but the bare dried and shrivelled shoots. In very bad cases almost all the twigs may wilt away in this manner, causing the trees to look as if they had been struck dead by lightning. In spite of this dismal appearance, the trees seem to recover completely in a short time; shedding the dead leaves as usual in March they put forth new shoots, burst into abundant blossoms and assume an altogether gay appearance.

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