8 BULLETIN 727, U. S. DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE. 



eased cucumber plants adjacent to the melons. No anthracnose 

 was found in about 80 acres of pickling cucumbers inspected in 

 Alabama. 



Therefore, much remains to be explained concerning the distribu- 

 tion of this disease. Whether or not soil differences have anything 

 to do with the occurrence of anthracnose is at present unknown. 

 However, it is worth while to point out that the Princeton-Neshkoro 

 and the Sparta regions of Wisconsin are characterized by very light 

 sand, while the Portage and Baraboo regions have heavier soils. 

 Evidence which proves that the fungus overwinters in the field will 

 be presented later. 



ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE. 



As has been previously recorded, anthracnose has caused very 

 serious losses from time to time among its host crops in almost every 

 part of its range. In Europe the epidemics in Italy, France, and 

 Sweden and in this country the repeated outbreaks of the disease 

 throughout the Atlantic Coast States, the Ohio Valley, and Nebraska 

 have been mentioned. 



Orton (33, p. 607) reports that in 1905 from 50 to 100 per cent 

 of the cantaloupe crop was lost in Nebraska, while in 1906 (34, p. 

 503) a loss of between 25 and 60 per cent of the cucumber crop in 

 Ohio occurred. It will be recalled that Eriksson (16, p. 121) reports 

 the disease so serious on cucumbers under glass as to discourage 

 that industry in one locality in Sweden. 



Among the estimates of loss recorded in the Office of the Plant- 

 Disease Survey are the following: 



Anthracnose of muskmelon caused a 35 per cent loss in Indiana in 1908; considerable 

 fruit rot in Connecticut in 1909; 5 per cent crop injury in two counties in Minnesota 

 in 1912; and a large percentage of the crop injured in Arkansas and a 25 per cent 

 crop injury in southeastern Virginia in 1915. Anthracnose of cucumbers caused a 

 50 per cent crop injury, with a loss of $1,000,000, in southern Michigan in 1912 and 

 a 25 per cent crop injury in Norfolk County, Va., in 1915. Anthracnose of water- 

 melon caused a 50 per cent crop injury in two counties in Virginia in 1910; 75 

 per cent loss in places in West Virginia in 1913; 15 per cent injury in Delaware, 5 per 

 cent in North Carolina, and 25 per cent in Norfolk County, Va., in 1915; 10 per cent 

 injury in Georgia and 30 per cent injury in South Carolina in 1916. 



High temperature and humidity are favorable to the disease; 

 hence its ravages are worse where these conditions prevail. This 

 may explain its destructiveness on cucumbers grown under glass. 

 In this respect the disease has been very important in Massachusetts. 

 Among field cucumbers grown for slicing purposes the disease may 

 cause loss either by vine injury or by fruit disfiguration. Among 

 coldframe cucumbers, where the individual plants represent a 

 greater value, anthracnose may cause great loss by its attack on 

 the foliage, especially where overhead watering is practiced. One 

 grower near Norfolk claimed a loss of at least $1,000 in 1917 on 1£ 

 acres, due to vine injury by anthracnose alone. 



