. Agricultural news. Agriculture -- West Indies; Plant diseases -- West Indies. 246 THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. August 12, [ RATOONING COTTON. In the following memorandum Mr. L. Lewton- Brain, B A., , discusses the matter of ratooning cotton from the point of view of its connexion with the sjDread of fungoid diseases :— One of the best ways of dealing with fungoid diseases of plants is by a rotation of crops. Where this is practised the fungi attacking any one crop have a chance to disai^pear, or, at any rate, to be greatly reduced, before the same crop occupies the same land again. Ra
. Agricultural news. Agriculture -- West Indies; Plant diseases -- West Indies. 246 THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. August 12, [ RATOONING COTTON. In the following memorandum Mr. L. Lewton- Brain, B A., , discusses the matter of ratooning cotton from the point of view of its connexion with the sjDread of fungoid diseases :— One of the best ways of dealing with fungoid diseases of plants is by a rotation of crops. Where this is practised the fungi attacking any one crop have a chance to disai^pear, or, at any rate, to be greatly reduced, before the same crop occupies the same land again. Ratooning will bring about just the opposite state of affairs; fungoid pests will be at their highest development at the end of the first year and the .spores will be present in their greatest abundance to attack any fresh growth. Not only this, but these old fields will be centres of infection for the new crop on neighbouring fields. On the other hand, if the old cotton were destroyed, each disease would have to make a fresh start in each new field, by means of spores from outside chance sources of infection. Sea Island cotton has been cultivated for many generations as an annual crop. It is therefore not to be expected tliat tlie growth of the second year will be equal in vegetative vigour to that of the first year. The two most important leaf diseases of cotton are the 'mildew' and the ' rust.' Neither of these attacks 3'oung, growing cotton to any great extent; the plants vhen growing well seem largely resistant to both diseases. As soon, however, as the jilants begin to get older and less vigorous, both 'I'ust' and ' mildew ' begin to make headwa}-. Every old leaf, at this stage, is covered with disease; also, almost every new leaf that ai)pears is more or less affected. If the process is carried further and the cotton ratooned, there will be a constant source of infection present in the older leaves, and in all probability nearly all the new leaves on the rato
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