TOBACCO WILDFIRE IN 1922. 25 



reported good control. This year several growers of sun as well as shade 

 gro\\7i tobacco sprayed plants in the field from one to six times, until the 

 plants were too large to ])ermit of further treatment, but the results have 

 not been encouraging in the case of sun-gro^\^l tobacco. While the treat- 

 ment seemed to check the disease for a time, later in the season after the 

 plants had grown too large to continue the treatment, wildfire spread 

 rather rapidly, and at harvesting little difference could be observed be- 

 tween the sprayed and unsprayed areas in the same field. In the case 

 of one grower who had a rather bad field infection when the plants were 

 small, the use of a Bordeaux mixture applied twice on part of the field 

 when the plants were small checked for a long time any further spread 

 of the disease, and at harvesting time the part of the field sprayed twice 

 showed much less wildfire than the unspraj-ed part of the field. 



Bordeaux mixtures are cheaper and under field conditions reniain on 

 the lea\-es a longer time, which is of course desirable from the infection 

 protection standpoint, but a disadvantage when the plants are more than 

 half-grown, as it remains on the leaves and the blue color is undesirable 

 after the cure. 



Another factor operating against the efficiency of dusts or spraj^s in the 

 field is that after the plants are about half-grown it is a practical im- 

 possibility to operate a duster or sprayer to advantage, and one is obliged 

 to stop the treatment at what might be termed the critical period, as it 

 is well knowm that there is often a heavy ^\ildfire infection just prior to 

 maturity. 



It is belie^■ed, however, that some benefit might be obtained from dust- 

 ing or spraying when the plants are small and until they are about a foot 

 high, particularly if spranng t)r dusting were combined with picking off 

 diseased lea\'es, and the spraying or dusting repeated at very close inter- 

 vals, say two or three times a week for a period of two weeks or so. 



It is believed that the application of dusts or sprays to tobacco in the 

 field is worthy of further consideration both by the growers and the 

 station, and next season more detailed experiments along this line will be 

 ■carried on. 



At present, however, the evidence at hand is not very favorable for this 

 method of control. 



THE OUTLOOK FOR 1923. 



The question now most frequently asked by the grower is: What can 

 we expect from wildfire in 1923 and in the following years? Will it con- 

 tinue as prevalent and troublesome as it has been in 1922? A\'ill it be- 

 come worse after our land is thoroughly infested with the germ? Or will 

 it gradually disappear? Fre([uently tobacco growers have told the writers 

 that they would stop raising tobacco if they thought the disease would 

 continue to be as serious as it has been during 1922. No man can predict 

 its future beha\aor with certainty or anything which approaches cer- 

 tainty, but we can base some judgment on (1) what we know about its 



