FUSARIUM-BLIGHT, OR WILT DISEASE, OF THE SOY¬ 
BEAN 1 
By Richard O. Cromwell 2 
Assistant Plant Pathologist , North Carolina Agricultural Experiment Station 
INTRODUCTION 
During the summer of 1915 a package of diseased plants of the soy¬ 
bean (Soja max (L.) Piper (17) ; 8 syn. Glycine soja, Soja hispida, etc.) 4 
was received from a correspondent at Red Springs, N. C. A large 
number of plants in the field from which these specimens were taken 
had become chlorotic, or were dead. The plants received were still 
green and in good condition for examination. The evidence ob¬ 
tained from a preliminary inspection indicated that the diseased condi¬ 
tion was due to the presence of a fungus belonging to the genus Fusarium. 
Furthermore, nearly all of the isolations from this material gave pure 
cultures of a species of Fusarium. 
The studies herein reported were therefore undertaken (1) to determine 
the parasitism of this species of Fusarium on soybean, (2) to establish 
its relationship to the’ Fusaria of the section Elegans in so far as a com¬ 
parison of the cultural characteristics permit, and (3) by means of cross 
inoculations and field studies to determine the relationship of this disease 
of soybeans to the wilt disease of cowpeas (Vigna sinensis Hassk.) caused 
by Fusarium tracheiphUum Smith. 
ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE OF THE SOYBEAN 
The soybean is a native of tropical Africa, Asia, and Australia 
(23, p. 360-361; 17, p. 76) and was introduced into Europe by Kampfer 
about 1690 (18, p. 9). At the present time it is the most important 
legume grown in Japan, China, and Manchuria. Its culture in 
England was begun in 1790. The plant was introduced into the 
United States from Japan in i860. Since that time its cultivation as 
a soil-improving and a forage crop has been confined for the most 
pait to the Southern States. North Carolina is probably foremost 
among these States in the production of soybeans. The yield in 1909 
was 13,313 bushels, 6 and in 1915 was estimated 6 as approximately 
1 Published with the permission of the Director of the North Carolina Agricultural Experiment Station. 
2 The writer wishes to express his deep appreciation to Prof. H. R. Fulton, under whose direction the 
study was begun, and to Dr. F. A. Wolf, for his helpful suggestions and criticisms during the major part 
of the investigations and for aid in the preparation of the manuscript. 
* Reference is made by number to *' Literature cited,” p. 438-439. 
4 For a complete synonymy, see Piper (17). 
6 U. S. Bur. Census, 13th Census, 1910, 1913. Statistics for North Carolina, p. 63a. 
8 Estimate furnished by the North Carolina Experiment Station. 
(431) 
Journal of Agricultural Research, 
Washington, D. C. 
hi 
Vol. VIII, No. 11 
Mar. 12,1917 
Key No. N. C.—4 
