Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1919-08-26

The wilt disease of. cotton is more
or less commonly met with in va
rious parts Of the south. AS a rule
II IS worse on sandy lands, and
more complaint as to damage comes
from the southern. part. OF the state
IMAM from the, northern part. 1t is
q disease, = however, which seems to
be making some Roadway and
spreading from place to place. Prob
ably those of US who cultivate and
handle the soil are responsible in
measure for. its spread because we
do not disinfect the tools used on
diseased land before operating them
on land which is not infested with
the fungus, which produces this
trouble, The wilt Of cotton is
disease just as, much as typhoid
feVer, smallpox, or diphtheria. The
sports which cause it live over in
the land form year to year and un-
der. certain conditions develop, find
their way into the roots of the cot
ton plant, grow up through the wa
tercarrying vessels and literally
choke the plant to death This ac-
counts for, the sudden willing of the
cotton plant and the loss of large
areas of the. crop on farms which
are heavily infested.
You cannot get rid of this disease
by simply growing one crop after q
cotton crop where it's presence has
been evidenced. The sports will ap-
parently live over in the soil for
several years. A systematic crop
lief The best. means of fighting
the wilt disease is through the use
of resistant strains of cotton. A
good deal of effort has been made
to develop these in recent years.
Probably the best variety of use I'M
der such conditions is Covington
Toole Remember that there are
various strains Of this and that YOU
should secure only seed which have
been grown by a reliable scotsman
and are guaranteed to be strongly
wilt resistant. Another good va
Other. varieties which are of good
promise are DiXafifi and Dillon.
These varieties are grown,to, ocn-
siderable extent in Georgia and adj
Joining states and one should not
have serious difficulty in securing
well established strains of the seed
Tor planting in future years.
/. There is nothing Of a practical ma
,ture you can do to prevent the
spread of this disease at this time.
certain plants in. your field are not
affected while Others all about die
This shows you that, some plants
are strongly resistant to this trou-
PIE, and it is by selecting plants Of
this type and persistentlY perpetual
ing their growth that we may hope
eventually to overcome the losses
which this disease is inflicting on
our crops at the present time.
The Value Of Inocu1ating Materials
y. N.-al", ponGtaE. Ga. writes: !
,- would like your opinion of commercial
culture 70" inocllating cowpcas and
other lc@umcs. Us, have never used
anything Of tho kind, " =.
We have found inocuIating cuI-
lures valuable on the smaller seed
ed leGQmes such rs alfalfa and
some Of tie other clovers. We adj
wise and recommend their use with
sQch crops. 1t is not possible to
establish alfalfa unless it is inocula-
ed, at .rleast this ltas ben our OK
perience. Occasionally one might Sc.
cure a ste nd through an .dItraOr-
binary cotnbfna ton of circumstances
W WITHOUT i gSt but the e1st
danger Of losing the same are. so
Great that we could not advise any
one to undertake the risk incident