Cheraw chronicle. [volume] (Cheraw, S.C.) 1896-2005, 1922-03-09
REGARDING BOIL ROT AND
DELINTED COTTON SEED
Director Barre Sums up Work Of Fx'
pertinent Station.

In view Ol lIle ECCeul ue"SpdpSI
discussion of boil rot and the sui
phuric acid method Of treating cot
ton seed, and in order that the farm
ers may not be confused or 'inadver-
tently misled by any Of these articles.
the following conclusions based upon
more than ten years study by the
South Carolina Experiment Station
are given.
The Stations study Of anthracnose
or boil rot dates back to 1908. The
progress made has been reported con-
tinuously in Station publications
since that date. The Extension Ser
vice through its weekly News
Notes" has kept the farmers inform
ed as to the practical results obtain
ed. 1t may be we'll at this time to re-
peat some of the recommendations
already published.
The treatment of cotton with con-
centrated sulphuric acid was first
tested by irector Duggar Of the
Alabama Experiment Station in l'il.
He found that it reduced the infec-
ton, but not enough to control boil
rot. Our results agree with his. In
1909 we discovered that the anthrac-
nose fungus actually penetrates the
seed before they are mature ana re-
mains alive within the seed until
planting time the following spring
This important discovery that the
fungus is carried within the seed was
announced and fully described in the
19OS-O9 annual report Of the Station
and has served as the basis for IN
control measures which were develop
ed and which have been published
from time to time.
Investigations have been conducted
using different chemicals and gases
different me;hods of hcsting &"1
driving, ETC., continuously up to the
present time. None Of the methods
vet devised have been effective for
practical use in completely eliminat'
ing the fungus which living in The
seed, perpetuates the boil rot.
The Station does not recommend
the treatment of seed with concen-
trated sulphuric acid to control boil
rot alone. The Station has emphasiz-
ed these methods through the prac-
tice of which the disease has been
largely eliminated from the state, re-
sulting in the saving of millions oi
dollars to the farmers. Where the
careless practice of planting diseas'
ed seed is persisted in, the disease
still causes a serious loss. AS lndl'
eating the present limited extent OF
boll rot. we were able in the fall OF
1920, after diligent search with the
help of the county agents, to locate
only one field in the state from Whicf
we could rot for use in our Laboratory
and obtain seed heavily infected with
boil field experiments. In spite OF me
fact that seed are brought in to tht
Station every year from all over thC
state for planting in our tests, only
once have we got hold of infected
seed and at no time during the past
three years has the percent of cotton
bolls in any field of the EXperimer
Station or College Farm affected witt
anthracnose boil rot exceeded one
percent. Usually no infection ha
been found except in experimental
plots where we purposely planted
diseased seed.
ANY one desiring information as
to the concentrated sulphuric aciC
treatment of cotton seed will fin}
full directions in our Weekly New
Notes" of April 2, 1921. Addition
scientific information of special in
terest may be had from Station Bull
letin No. 164, Of April, 1912; Annu3
Report of 1913; Bulletin No. 1S4 c
December, 1915; and from
Reports of 1919, 1920 and 1921. ANY
of these reports will be furnished or
request.
Delinted cotton seed can he plant
ed as readily as corn or peas by mar
of the standard makes of planters
such as the Cole, John Deere, Avery