Bulletin 214, Cotton Diseases in Florida


 Fig. 5.-Two types of bacterial blight injury to cotton leaves. The leaf
 on the left exhibits the angular leaf spot type of injury.

 CONTROL
 Angular leaf spot can be greatly reduced by carefully selecting
 the seed from disease-free fields or from parts of fields least at-
 tacked by the disease. It has been found that by delinting the
 seed with sulphuric acid the disease can be practically eliminated,
 since over-wintering in debris in the field seems to be unimport-
 ant. The method is rather dangerous for persons inexperienced
 in handling the acid, which is very caustic, and it is not recom-
 mended as a general practice, though county agents will be glad
 to help where it is desired to delint, and full directions for de-
 linting are given in the back of this bulletin.
 Delinting, in addition to helping in the control of cotton diseases,
makes planting much easier, since the lint-free seed can be planted
in an ordinary corn planter through a peanut plate. Where sev-
eral farmers can work together the delinting can be cheaply and
satisfactorily done. There is no doubt but that within a few years
there will be many seed houses handling delinted seed on account
of its convenience in planting and its great help in eliminating cer-
tain diseases.
 By treating cotton seed with various poisonous dusts, angular
leaf spot has been controlled to some extent, but at the present
time it is not possible to make definite recommendations as to their
proper use.