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plants are checked in their growth, the lower leaves die prematurely, and 
the whole plant usually wilts and dies before maturing fruit so that in- 
fested plants are practically a total loss. 
TURNIP. 
Peronospora parasitica was found causing darkened regions within the 
roots late in the storage season. The diseased tissue is readily invaded and 
rotted by Rhizoctonia or the soft rot bacteria. 
WATERMELON. 
The limiting factor in the watermelon industry in Indiana is the Fu- 
sarium wilt disease. This soil trouble has rendered much land unfit for 
water melon culture and necessitates the use of new soil each year. Wilt> 
has caused the growers in many districts to give up watermelon growing 
entirely. For example, Vallonia was once an important watermelon ship- 
ping point, but now practically no watermelons are grown in that district. 
The disease is serious in Knox County, also. 
Anthracnose caused by Colletotrichum lagenarium was not at all prey- 
alent this year and was found only in two fields, one near Vincennes and 
the other near Vallonia. A number of fields about Vincennes were planted 
with treated seed. 
In one instance of a small watermelon patch in a large cantaloupe field, 
the leaf blight caused by Alternaria brassicae var. nigrescens occurred on 
the watermelons as well as the cantaloupes. 
There was considerable rotting of the fruits in the field in Knox County 
due to infection through the non-parasitic blossom-end rot by Fusarium 
and Diplodia. Stem-end rot is not encountered in shipments of Indiana 
melons, according to J. R. Cavanaugh. 
WHEAT. 
Very general concern was occasioned by the discovery of a foot rot of 
wheat much resembling the Australian “take-all” disease.’ This disease 
was first found in Madison County, Illinois, where a considerable acreage 
was involved. In Indiana the disease was found in one field in Tippecanoe 
County, in five fields near Laporte, and in six fields in Porter County be- 
tween Valparaiso and Wanatah. All but two of these fields were planted 
with Salzer’s Red Cross Variety. 
This disease occurs either in well defined spots in the field or may in- 
vyolve more or less all of the field. When first noted during May the dis- 
eased plants were distinctly stunted, being only a few inches high while 
normal plants were knee high. ‘The affected plants showed excessive 
tillering and the rosette effect as well as a darker green color were very 
marked. <A large percentage of plants were killed outright. Closer examin- 
ation showed a dark brown discoloration and rotting of the leaf sheaths and 
stem just above the ground line. 
