The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1909-07-07


seems TO have been a noticeable in
crease in the distribution and prev
alence Of the disease known as welt
OF cotton 1t seems to be gaining
1oothold in every locality through the
central and eastern part of the State
andais doing inestimable damage. r.
seems, therefore, that it might be we'll
I" call the attention of the people to
what wilt is and to say something
concerning the methods of eliminat-
ing 1t. Every farmer should become
acquainted with this disease so that
ne can be on the lookout for it and
know how to combat it in the future.
We have had more inquiries concern
ing 1T this summer than ever before.
and 1t seems to he spreading rapidly
in some sections of the State. We have
had no less than a dozen inquiries
within the last few days concerning
it.
10 Wilt is a fungus disease. It is
caused by minute vegetable organ
ism-a fungus which gains entrance
| into the roots and stems of the plant
and grows there parasitically. The
vegetateve portion of the fungus
which is made up of numerous long,
| tiny thread-like filaments grows
through the tissue and interferes with
the functions of the plant. These
| flements get into the circulatory sys-
tenn of the plant and grow together
In such masses in the water ducts as
to cut off the circulation of water and
OF sap. When this stage is reached
the cotton plant necessarily willis and
dies.
| 1t Is very easy to recognize a plant
that is affected with or is dying from
wilt. For aside from the ordinary
symptoms which you Would suspect
where plant willis, very marked evil
dence Of the presence of .he disease is
found in the stems Of the affected
plants. If such plants are split open.
dark streaks will always be found
extending through the woody tissue
OF the stem and root. These streaks
arc always very pronounced in the
wood just beneath the bark. Other
smaller discolored areas are found all
through the roots and stems. These
darkened areas are water vessels of
the plant which are filled with and
plugged up by the growth Of the fun
gus.
| The fungus which causes this dis
ease is more hardy than the cotton
plant on which it lives and continues
to live and grow after the host plant
is dead. It even lives over for sever
al years on dead stalks and in the
soil and remains ready to attack any
plants as they come up. A field once
infected, then, would remain so for
several years. The fact, too, that the
fungus which causes the disease lives
in the soil and enters through the
roots of the cotton makes it hard to
| fight. None of the given methods of
fighting fungus pests, such as spray
ing, seed treatment, ETC.. will have
any effect on it. So we have to resort
to other methods. Now, plants like
people and like lower animals have
| different tendencies. Some people are
healthier or more resistant to disease
| than others. The same is true of low
er animals and true it seems to even q
greater extent with plants Some va
rieties of cotton are more resistant to
disease than others, and in the same
variety some individual stalks seem
more resistant than other individuals
| The United States Department of
Agriculture has made use of this fact
and has set about breeding disease re-
sistant varieties OF cotton. This has
been carried on now for number of
years and they have had remarkable
| success. They are not able to give
us variety of cotton which is prac-
tiCally immune from wilt. In order
to help eliminate wilt from the cotton
fields of the South and thus save TO
the farmers the two millions now lost
annually from it's effect, the Depart
ment of Agriculture has made ar
rangements for distributing seed of
these disease resistant varieties
among the farmers in the sections
which ares uffering from wilt. Sam
pies Of these seed can be had by writ
ing to the congressman Of the various
districts or by writing direct to the
United States Department of Agricul-
ture at Washington, d. C.
AS pointed out above this is the
only method of eliminating the dis