Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1930-01-16
DEEP FILLING
TO BE STUDIED
Department Of Agriculture
Experts Investigate
Valley
Nv r l. SEXTON

by HAhh1 L.
WASHINGTON, Jan. ie-The ef-
feet Of deep filling n connection
with the control Or eradiction o.
cotton root rot and potato scab
In the Lower Rio Grande Valley
and the Winter Garden section OF
Texas will be investigated by the
Department of Agriculture experts,
according to information received
from o. F. Cook, head Of the cot
ton division Of the Bureau OF Plant
Industry.
Tne action O. the Department IS
predicted upon a request OF Oon-
gresham John n. Garner. During
q trip through the Valley last sum
mer Mr.. Gamers attention was
called 10 he results OF deep thing
ON the c. r. Johnson lands at san
Pe-lita In Wlllacy county, the q. j..
Fnzelman development near Elsa In
Hidalgo county and the farms OF
a NJ. Tandy & Sons near Los Fres-
mos in Cameron county. as well as
numerous other places where oeep
tilling has becom@ the accept
practice. xcelieat results are be-
;iaved To have been obtained IN re-
d1cinr cotton root rot On the En-
gelman and Johnson mas, ana =.
N. Tandy g. Sons, who rank among
the largest potato growers IN the
Valley, reported that they are satls-
fled deep tilling has materially re-
duced potato scab.
THOR his return 10 washington
AR Garner called the attention OF
4 Department OF Agriculture 10
the results obtainC in the Valley
bv deep tilling and requested that
the Department make a study OF
this method and TO issue a bulletin
thereon IN their find ngs Justlileo.
In a letter to Mr.. Gamers ofIlce,
which ives transmitted TO the De-
partment Of Agriculture, z. X. JONI
son Of San Perliat. who handles a
large acreage Of cotton, stateo' n
regard to our success with SUD
soilinE. we found through expert
ence that IL IS a great snip IN
Eliminating root rot and also ne!ps
n RETAIN moisture, especially where
We have q clay sub-soil, as y gives
the water a chance 10 penetrate the
ton soil into the clay where II can
be easily retained by clean cultiVa-
ton.
"Our experience last year was
that Inc cotton land that was sub
soiled MADE about one-third better
Weld and no root rot showed W
at all, and on some OF the oloer
land on which roo5 rot a oeen
prevailing It was shortly eiminat-
ed. 1t IS my opinion that letting
the air into the soil will Ill the
fungus that Is responsible for the
root rot. We also found the u 3
soiling excellent for corn and feed
as well as for tomatoes
Cotton root rot has proved one
OF the most perplexin- problems
with which the Department has
had 70 deal in recent years. Having
ascertained that so many I .oTs
contribute to the spread OF this
plant disease that a general REM
edy or method for il a control ap-
pears improbable. the Department
IS now directing its efforts toward
s~scertainir~ the most efficient 20
cal remedies.
Efforts will be made by the De-
partment to secure the co-opera-
ton OF growers in Willecy. Gamer
on and Hidalgo counties in max
ing these studies and d. D. G.
Neal or II. c. Mcnamara. who have
been conducting cotton root rot
experiments az The Greenville. Tex
as station several years, will spend
some time in the Valley during the
summer. In a letter TO @. r. John
son OF San Pe-lita Mr.. Cook stated:
I'VE are much interested IN the
results you have obtained with SUB
selling in South Texas and would
&c glad 70 have any additional data
that may be available from your
EXPERIMENTS with this method.
Studies bF this Department OF the
rcot rot fungus have been IN pro-
rress for several years ard local
remedies are being investigated as
raoidly as possible. Our expert
merits have hen confined largely
10 the general vicinity Of Gre2-ville
IN North Ts Is and az the .. s.
field station at San Antonio. 9th
CT work IS being done near Temple
ana Au..in In cooperation with the
Texas State Experiment Station.
we und tand that YOU prob
ably would b interested in a series
Of co-oDe-ative c.sDe-iments with
deen til'aee ard other measures
fer root TOT control. and we are re-
ouasting one cf our field men 10
visit you during the coming season
with a view CT including South
Texas territory in cur program Of
experimental work"
The Department has also writ
ten 70 c. FrzclL-al - Edinburr
AMI ClvdN TaE6y at Brownsville
REQUESTING such data as they may
have, available and 10 secure their
cooperation in tire Investigation.
The experiments at Greenville
fni other points in Texas have
Sisrlossd TINT such remedies and
methods rs have been tried 20
control cotton roc. rot Go not
prove equally ~efficacious in the
va-vinE sell typo and different