166 
As a result of my observation on cooperative experiments so far, lam not over- 
sanguine concerning their utility on a large scale for the discovery of new facts. 
Their accuracy and reliability is ever open to doubt. As a means of demonstration 
of fact already known, 1 believe that the operative experiments can accomplish as 
much good as either the bulletins or the institutes. 
At this point the following report from E. M. Wilcox, of Alabama, chairman of 
a special committee appointed at the Atlanta meeting, was read by the secretary: 
Your committee appointed at the Atlanta convention to consider the nomenclature 
of plant breeding begs leave to report as follows: 
We recommend to the section the adoption of the new term "clon," proposed by 
Dr. H. J. Webber, to designate "groups of plants that are propagated by the use of 
any form of vegetative parts such as bulbs, tubers, cuttings, grafts, buds, etc., and 
which are simply parts of the same individual seedling." 
Clon (pronounced with long 6) is derived from the Creek word kXCov, meaning 
a twig or slip, such as used for propagation. The adjective form would be clonal 
and the plural would be dons. 
We recommend that the committee be continued as a permanent committee of 
the section on the nomenclature of plant breeding. 
Respectfully submitted. 
E. Mead Wilcox, Chairman. 
A motion was adopted expressing approval of the work of the committee. The 
committee was continued. 
F. L. Stevens then read the paper given below, illustrating his remarks by means 
of lantern slides. 
The History oftite Tobacco Wilt in Granville County, North Carolina." 
The disease here designated as the "Granville wilt" has already been the subject 
of two bulletins of the North Carolina Experiment Station, a press bulletin, and a 
preliminary bulletin numbered 188. Its chief claims to interest lie in its newness, 
its seriousness, and the apparently small area as yet subject to it. 
As the disease is caused by a parasite distributed principally by soil, its invasion 
into new territory is practically a certainty, unless some means of control be happily 
discovered or invented. Soil once affected is rendered useless for further culture of 
tobacco, at least, unless a protracted period of from ten to twenty years of rest be 
allowed. The disease thus resembles the formidable wilt of the melon, cowpea, and 
cotton. 
While study of the disease is young and it is unwise to generalize, it seems very 
probable that the disease is quite local. Indeed, if it were widely distributed it 
would surely have crept into literature long ago, since its exceeding destructiveness 
and prominence in a field once affected are characters that lead to unenviable notori- 
ety. Occasional rumors of its occurrence reach us from various sections of the State 
and United States, but so far each rumor owes its origin to a wilt of some other 
nature, not to a contagious wilt of this type. The conditions in Granville County 
indicate that the disease is spreading there from an infected center still compara- 
tively small. While the wilt has been known for something like twenty years in 
this region, it is still in its infancy. It presents an interesting case of the invasion 
of a State by a highly contagious disease so recently that its starting point and 
progress may be traced with reasonable accuracy. The slow spread of the peach 
yellows and rosette across the country and the importation of the hollyhock rust are 
similar instances. Seldom, however, do we find the place of original infection so 
definitely marked and the history so well preserved as in this instance. 
Three characters, viz, the wilt, the root rot, and the permanent soil infection, 
mark this disease with sufficient certainty to enable one to collect the essential facts 
of its history in a given community. The farmers of Granville County recognize 
these essential characters, particularly the permanent soil infection, and differentiate 
this disease from its simulators, the sore shin and sporadic wilts due to other and 
various causes. 
From the farmers of Granville County I have been able to glean the following his- 
tory: The wilt was first abundant enough to attract attention in 1881 on the farm of 
B. F. Stems, where all, or practically all, of the plants died. From here the infection 
spread to the land of .Mr. S. T. Parrott, across the road. The disease was found in 
a See also North Carolina Sta. Bui. L88. 
