WILT DISEASE OF COTTON AND ITS CONTROL. 



DISTRIBUTION. 



The wilt disease is now known to occur on the coast of South Caro- 

 lina, where it attacks the fine sea island cotton, and at Dillon, 

 Salters, and other places in the same State, where it attacks upland 

 cotton. 



Prof. F. S. Earle, of the State experiment station, reports it to be 

 widely distributed in Alabama, particularly in the southern part, 

 and states that it is undoubtedly growing worse from year to year. 

 It has been reported from many localities in Georgia, and is known to 

 occur in Florida and Arkansas. 



It is certain that this disease is widely distributed through the 

 Southern States, and it is probable that it occurs in many places 

 where it has not yet been distinguished from other troubles, such as 

 "rust" and the effects of lightning. 



EXTENT OF LOSS. 



The annual loss from the wilt disease is very considerable. It is 

 more keenly felt by the individual planters than most cotton troubles, 

 because the disease remains in the soil and grows worse with each 

 succeeding crop. On the sea islands of South Carolina alone a careful 

 estimate indicates that nearly, if not quite, one-third of the land 

 planted to high-grade cotton is affected by this disease, the large)- 

 portion of it so l^adly that it is no longer profitable to plant it in cot- 

 ton. In many instances it has been necessary to abandon from 20 to 

 50 acres on a single plantation. Much of this land is tile-drained and 

 in a high state of cultivation. No other crop has been so profitable as 

 the sea island cotton, and the iiroblem l)efore these planters is a very 

 serious one. The loss to the planters of upland cotton in areas 

 affected by the disease has been proportionally great. On one farm 

 in Dillon, S. C., where the Department has been conducting some 

 experiments, 15 acres of fine land are already affected and the disease 

 is spreading rapidly on this and adjoining plantations. The result of 

 planting these infected soils with the ordinary varieties of cotton is 

 shown in Plate I, in which fig. 1 shows a field of diseased cotton and 

 fig. 2 a field of healthy cotton. The loss to this community from the 

 wilt disease the past season is estimated at several thousand dollars. 

 In Alabama the loss from this disease is reported from many sources to 

 be very large. 



