COTTON CT7LTUKE. 99 



as its enemies from the animal kingdom. Few crops are 

 ever destroyed by anything but the caterpillar or the Ar- 

 my-worm ; the " sore-shin," the red and brown rust, the 

 dry rot, and the " cotton blues," damage a crop in various 

 degrees, sometimes ruining a part of a field, or cutting off 

 a number of bolls from each plant. 



As these diseases'are easily recognized when they make 

 their appearance, and as little can be done towards arrest- 

 ing their progress when once developed in a crop, the at- 

 tention of the planter should be turned mainly to the best 

 means of providing against their return. 



" An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." 



Rust, on the cotton stalk, is a small parasitical fungus 

 or morbid growth, like lichens on trees, that springs up 

 and materially checks the advancement of the plant by 

 absorbing its juices. This fungus is produced by a dis- 

 eased state of the plant, which may arise in various ways, 

 but principally from a stagnation in its growth and in- 

 sufficient supply of some of the elements of vegetable life. 

 This stagnation may be produced by a singularly unfavor- 

 able season, but it is more likely the consequence of an 

 unwise system of cropping and bad husbandry. 



" Defective cultivation," says Professor Harper, of the 

 University of Mississippi, " is the reason of ninety-nine 

 cases of rust in cotton, while one is owing to an unfavor- 

 able season." 



The " sore shin " is an affection of young cotton plants, 

 very similar in appearance, and probably of the same 

 origin as rust. 



u Rot, or gangrene, is a decay that attacks the top 

 bolls. The seed and lint first rot and turn black ; then a 

 sore or scab appears, resembling a puncture with a sharp 

 instrument. This extends quite over the surface of the 

 boll, and very frequently, after the disease has taken pos- 

 session of the whole pod, it opens its prongs and repre- 

 sents a thoroughly rotten state in all its parts." 



