174 COTTON 
WHAT TREATMENT THESE DISEASES SUGGEST | 
We see from what has been said that the cotton 
plant falls heir to many kinds of diseases. You 
naturally look for some treatment that will keep 
your plants from disease and help them to be 
strong and healthy. What is the remedy? It 
lies along one general direction: fitting the plant 
to its environment. If its atmosphere, its home 
conditions, and life in general, are good, it will in a 
large measure resist all diseases. 
The central thought then is to apply preventive 
rather than remedial measures. Get your soil 
deep, and well loosened; fill it with vegetable 
matter so as to control the warmth and moisture 
and plant food; rotate your crops so that no dis- 
ease may gain headway; apply humus fre- 
quently and constantly to the soil, because humus 
is the life of the land; and select seed only from 
strong and vigorous plants, for these will possess 
endurance. 
The right treatment of disease lies in these 
directions. Follow them and neither fungus nor 
bacteria can destroy your crop; follow them and 
your reward will be found in a plenteous harvest. 
