Mar. 12,1917 
Fusarium-Blight of the Soybean 
423 
cowpea-wilt organism and with a nematode (Heterodera radicicola). Con¬ 
cerning the work at Monetta, S. C., he says (p. 18): 
Eight varieties [soybeans] were tried on ten plats. All proved to be immune to the 
wilt disease, but none of them was adapted to the local conditions. The growth was 
very small, the plants averaging from 8 to 14 inches high, though most of the varieties 
bore a good crop of seed for such small plants. All suffered from much drought in 
midsummer and all were badly injured by the root nematode. On examination of the 
roots a moderate number of bacterial tubercles were found. * * * They [soybeans] 
were at a considerable disadvantage in this test on account of the late date of planting 
and the ensuing dry weather. 
The varieties tested were Tokio, Buckshot, Yosho, Ito San, Manhattan, 
Guelph, and Amherst. Orton reported that at Edisto Island the soybean 
made a heavy growth, 3 or 4 feet high and was free from the wilt disease. 
It may be said that a very considerable proportion of the several varie 
ties of cowpeas grown in adjacent plots succumbed to wilt. The results 
* of these tests accord with the observations of others who have had oppor¬ 
tunity to observe these crops when they were grown on soil known to be 
infected with cowpea wilt. 
A limited number of careful observations have therefore been made 
during 1915 and 1916 to determine whether the wilts of these two hosts 
are coextensive in range and thus to furnish evidence of the identity 
of the two. Two 5-acre fields on widely separated parts of the North 
Carolina Experiment Station farm, in which cowpeas and soybeans 
were grown in alternate rows, showed a very considerable propor¬ 
tion of the former host affected, whereas the latter remained entirely 
free from disease. In other localities of the State, soybeans growing 
on soil infected with the cowpea-wilt organism have remained disease- 
free. 
Observations differing from these were made in the case of soil brought 
from another part of the Station farm. When this soil was used to grow 
soybeans in pots out of doors, it was found to be infected with soybean- 
blight, as shown by the development of the disease in 33 of the 80 pots. 
Wilt, both of cowpeas and soybeans, was present on the farm of the cor¬ 
respondent previously referred to, at Red Springs, N. C. Many of the 
soybean plants in this field were killed and many only stunted, so that a 
decrease in yield of 60 per cent during the past season is probably a correct 
approximation of his loss. Blight or wilt of soybeans has also been found 
to occur at Exum and Belhaven, N. C., and was the cause of considerable 
loss in both locations. 
Since cowpea-wilt has been found in many localities throughout the 
Piedmont and the Coastal Plain sections of North Carolina, it is entirely 
probable, if we judge from the results to be presented subsequently, that 
the soybean-blight may appear more or less generally wherever the soil is 
infected with Fusarium tracheiphilum. Records received from the Office 
of Plant Disease Survey show that, up to the close of 1915, F. trachei - 
