The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1880-07-29
Rust in Cotton.

The rust IS disease tnat QOeS HOTe
injury to the cotton crop and causes
greater pecuniary loss to the South than
all the other diseases Of the staple COM
bined. 1t is probable that it more or
less affects about one.third Of all the
cotton fields in the seven Southeastern
States, and, according to the virulence of
its attacks, reduces the yield to only
about two.thirds, or three -fourths Of
what it would be otherwise. If this
esti.nate approximates the truth the
loss to the planters in these States last
year was upwards of s25,O0O,OO0. The
disease attacks cotton only in fields that
have been under cultivation some years,
seldom or never appearing in new
ground. This fact leads us to the con-
clusion, confirmed by other observations,
that it is caused by the impoverisbment
of the soil and the lack of vegetable
matter therein.
Last season we planted a field of about
thirty acres in cotton, all of which had
been ploughed to the depth of nine
inches in February. The rows were run
north and south, (as cotton rows should
always be run if practicable, and the
entire field, with the exception of six
rows, about the middle Of it, was ma
nured with one hundred pounds Of phos.
phate and three bushels of cotton seed
per acre. The north end of the field
covered six acres of poor land that had
not been planted in cotton for some
years, because the rust was there always
fatal. These six acres had been left fall
low in 1873, and the growth of crab grass
thereon was ploughed under in Novem-
ber of that year. At the south end were
three acres that had been planted in COW
peas the same year, the peas were picked
off, but the vines ploughed under. By
the middle of July the rust appeared in
the middle section of twenty-one acres,
over which it spread in the course of the
rest of the month and August, only very
slightly touching the six rows that had re-
csived no phosphate, and entirely stopping
as soon as the two sections of six and three
acres at opposite ends of the fields were
reached. The middle section of twenty
one acres produced a yield of one hun.
dred and eighty.iive pounds lintper acre,
while those at the two ends averaged two
hundred and seventy pounds. The six
rows that had no phosphate produced
more cotton and remained green longer
in the twenty.one acre section than those
on either side of them. These results
demonstrate that humus in the soil will
prevent rust, and also, that unless there
is such humus, the application of one
hundred pounds of phosphate per acre
will not repay its high cost.
The problem to be solved therefore is,
how to put humus into cotton iield of
100 acres or more. Anything can b
done with one acre, aud from such i
small patch enormous results may be
obtained, clearly demonstrating the pos
sible-results very interesting to agricul'
tural chemists, and those intelligent
planters who may have ample cash
capital, but of not much practical value
to the average farmers of the South, who
do not understand chemistry and have
no cash capital whatever. 1t appears to
us that the only practical solution is the
application of cowpeas. This is 4 means
within the reach of all farmers. At the
time of the last working of the crop,
about the 18th or Goth of July, furrow
should be run between the rows with a
bull tongue plough, in which the peas
should be sowu at the rate of half
bushel per acre. They sha..l be GOV.
cred with sweep, which will also give
the last ploughing to the cation. The
staple crop will, by this time be so ad-
vanced that the pea vines cannot injure
it, and as cotton cannot grow sufficiently
large in land in which it rusts to shade
the middles, the peas will make good
vines, which will supply to the soil the
needed humus if allowed to die on the
land.
Salt is considered by some as prevent
i've of rust, but like lime, it is efficacious
only when the soil contains humus or
vegetable matter not yet decayed.
The principles enunciated: and the
remedy suggested, are being practically
tried this season by the writer. Last
summer growth of COW peas was
obtained over twentwty-six acres of the
field above mentioned and portion of
one adjoining; the vines died on the
land and were ploughed under. This
spring not pound Of phosphate was
used, but the land was manured with
one hundred and ten pounds Turks
Island salt, costing seventy-seven cents,
and four bushels of cotton seed per acre.
At this moment, nearly the middle of
July, the crop is the strongest and
healthiest that the field has produced for
several years, and is producing an unu-
sual quantity of fruit.-E, in Charleston
Weekly Ne,cs.