The Clio messenger. (Clio, Mich.) 1907-current, 1918-05-17
Planting of Clean Bean Seed This
Spring Will Rid Crop of Dis
ease, PathoIogist Says.
THOROUGH PICKING HELPFUL
Careful Removal of All Stained and
Blotched Beans From the Seed
Stock Lessons the
Danger.
BY DR.. G. II. cooNS, Plant PathoIo-
aist M. A. C. Experiment Station.

uOHS nave pracllcaHy cut In TWO crops
grown at great expense. Before 1916
and 1917 plant disease. and especially
anthracnose, had year after year
brought enormous loss to the growers
in many sections, and in some districts
crop failure. To this dismal condition
must be added the damage brought
about in the fall of 1917 by the rainy
period which caught nearly the en-
| tire crop while it was still piled in
| the field. AS result the beans that
were produced We're I'm the bulk of
cases greatly lessened i'm value by
ground rot" Where farmers lacked
| facilities for spreading out the wet
crop TO dry beans that picked 40
pounds to the bushel were not uncom-
mon. Naturally under such conditions
of moisture countless bushels have
become musty.
Combined with certain vagaries in
the price, these losses have caused
many growers to question the advisa-
bility of longer clinging to this crop,
A national problem Of grave impOr-
| lance is wrapped up in this matter.
But discussion of the diseases of
beans and not Of acreage, the price of
seed and the California competition is
the province Of this article, though I'M
doubtedly these questions must be de-
cided on Il sound business basis, in
which true patriotism and n desire to
obey the call of the country must be
paramount considerations.
What may the farmer expect in the
way Of bean diseases i'm 1918? To be-
gin with, plant diseases are not caused
by the weather. This has been said so
often that ii has become an old story
to many farmers, but there are still
many others who. seeing the direct re-
lation between weather and disease ep-
idemics, blame the whole matter on
rainy seasons and stop there.
If the trouble stopped there this
article would not be written, for no
one has yet found way to control
the weather. There is, however, an
other side to be considered.
The "nigger in the woodpile" in this
case happens to be germ. Plant
diseases are caused by germs, and the
weather is concerned only in so far
as it aids in the growth and spread
Of these germs.
Take bean anthracnose for exam
pie. Here we are dealing with dis
ease carried in the seed to the field
and brought above the ground when
the first seed leaves push out. Rain
serves to carry the disease down the
stalk to the young unfolding leaves,
and rain also serves to wash the germs
from the leaves to the pods and from
plant to plant.
The transfer of bean anthracnose,
aside from that which comes from cul-
tivating beans while wet, and so forth,
Is wholly a matter of how far the rain
can splash. If beans are grown in n
greenhouse and irrigated instead Of
watered, they can be grown with abso-
lutely clean pOds-a point which is
mentioned to show that rain does not
cause anthracnose but merely spreads
it. Without the germ there would be
no disease.
And so with other bean diseases.
They are seed-borne and greatly influ-
enced by the rainy weather. Yet with
out the germ the weather could be
whatever it pleased without any dan
ger of its ever making the beans blight.
ed or spotted.
1t is this last statement which gives
us justification for making predictions
for 1918. A farmer will certainly have
disease In his fields If he plants dis
eased stock. If he can get disease
free" seed-then he will have no trou
bic.
The matter is not so simple as 1t
sounds, for the problem Is to get dis
ease-free seed. Probably there is not
bushel of seed absolutely free from
disease in Michigan. All the farmer
can do is to try to secure disease
safe" seed.
The present year offers n golden
opportunity to secure "disease-safe"
seed. AS result Of the last two dry
summers the percentage of anthrac-
nose has been reduced, so that judging
from the thousand samples of beans
that have been been analysed for dis
ease by the department of botany 1t
is safe to say that not one sample In so
shows heavy infestation from, anthrac-
nose, and in fact many are totally free.
Anthracnose Is In retreat, but If wet
weather keeps up this year 1t can make
stand and intrench itself as firmly
as ever. The present is an ideal time
to get rid of the old enemy. 1t is
wholly an individual problem.
II l were going to plant beans this
spring would get seed stock free from
weathered beans and as clean and
dry as possible, and then I would have
1t picked to absolute cleanliness. Every
bean should be looked at and all with
spots or stains should be thrown out.
The women in the home who have