THE WEATHER AND THE WEEVIL 87 



come the plant cannot extract moisture from the subsoil 

 and sheds its bolls. Since the advent of the boll weevil 

 the wet spring has become even more dangerous to the 

 cotton planter. 13 The heaviest spring rainfall occurs in 

 the Central Belt. The heaviest August rainfall is along 

 the Eastern Gulf Section and the South Atlantic Coast. 

 Wet falls are, as Hubbard points out, the bane of the 

 cotton buyer. Even if the fiber is not discolored or beaten 

 out, cotton may be picked wet, or the damp, half-rotted 

 bolls may have seed sprouting in them. In either case the 

 grade is lowered, and the staple rendered unsatisfactory 

 to the spinner. The farmer gets much less for his product 

 and in many cases finds he would have saved money by 

 foregoing the expense of picking a damp crop. The years 

 1906, 1913, 1919, and 1925 are examples of wet falls 

 that gave much trouble. 14 



COTTON DISEASES 



Diseases have never ranked high as a risk of produc- 

 tion of the cotton crop. In 1912, however, a 4.3 per cent 

 reduction was estimated as caused by cotton diseases. In 

 1920 a plant disease survey of the Department made an 

 estimate of total losses of cotton from disease at 13 per 

 cent, 15 possibly an overestimate. Several of the diseases 

 are due to fungi. In cotton wilt the parasites enter the 

 roots and plug the water vessels, causing wilting and 

 death of the whole plant. Only resistant types of cotton 

 can be grown in affected areas as the fungus remains in 

 the soil indefinitely. Another fungus growth causes the 

 Texas root rot peculiar to soil of the type of the black 



13 Ibid., p. 30. 14 Ibid., p. 37. 



15 "The Cotton Situation," p. 355. 



