The Marietta journal. [volume] (Marietta, Ga.) 1866-1909, 1893-08-17
COTTON.
Root Rot-Its Cause and remedy.

AS several inquiries have been made
on the subject of root rot in cotton, we
reprint the reply of the department as
It appeared in the Early County News:
Inote in the Early County News that
owing to the amount of damage done to
the cotton crop in your section of the
state by root rot" it is suggested that
the opinion and advice of the depart
ment of agriculture be asked on this
subject. For this reason take the lib
erty to present what seems to me the
most reasonable cause of the disease and
most practicable remedy.
Perhaps, on the cause of no other dis
ease to which staple crops are subject
have such variety OF opinions existed
as root rot" In Texas, where cotton
and other plant life have suffered great
ly, many have been inclined to attrib-
ute it to certain mechanical or other
conditions of the soil. These conditions
are applicable to Georgia in but few
instances and certainly not large num-
Der of fields upon which the disease has
made its appearance. and I am there
fore inclined to dismiss anything that
looks to the mechanical or chemical
condition of the soil as the direct cause
Of the rot and to regard such conditions
only as favOring the development and
spread of the disease.
In an elaborate bulletin issued by the
Texas experiment station, after thor
ough experimental work and scientific
investigation, the following conclusion
was reached: Root rot'' in cotton is
caused by OZonium Auriconum. The
fungus has been found upon all roots
which have died from the disease. I
have no doubt of the correctness of
this determination and it is substanti-
ated by the infectious character of the
disease and directly by inoculation of
other plants and soils.
Having determined the cause science
would be useless could it not suggest a
remedy or at least palliative. 1t was
thought that fungicides might prove
beneficial and to ascertain their effec-
tiveness number of experiments were
conducted. The parasite being in the
ground and the plants tender, the ex-
periments were not satisfactory. An
other method adopted was to deprive
the parasite of the plants upon which it
existed, as such plants harbored the
cause and spread the disease.
Investigation showed that Ozonium.
in addition to cotton attacked a num-
Der of forest trees. sweet potatoes, some
weeds and other plants, consequently
such plants increased the fungus. Study,
however, demonstrated that corn, wheat,
oats. rye and all the grasses did not suf-
fer from the fungus and that rotation
with these crops resulted in rapidly di-
minishing the parasite. The following
rotation has been successfully tried:
Plant corn after cotton and cotton and
small grain after corn. AS soon as the
corn is gathered, prepare for small
grain, and in August and September,
while there is green coat of vegeta-
ton on the stubble turn it under as
deep as possible.
In conclusion, 1 would say that it is
not surprising, that when cotton is
planted year after year on the same
land, insects and disease should increase
until the crop is nearly totally destroyed
and that judicious method of rotation
is the only way to avoid such results.