t Growers' Association.
We have had, however, one man, and will have two men, on the southern
pecan diseases in Georgia, on pecan scab and pecan leaf diseases, who
are winning out beautifully, and have nearly solved many of the
problems, including the pecan scab. One of the difficulties is the
occasional late summer rainy spell, bringing diseases and bad
conditions. But in general we have solved the problem pretty well.
Then we have the more permanently dangerous disease, pecan rosette,
which has taken about half of the pecans in some sections of the South,
especially in south Georgia and in Florida. That disease is being
experimented upon in the most extensive way of any of our projects.
There is only one word to say about pecan rosette, and that
is--humus--the disease is cured by the application of humus.
MR. REED: How far north is the walnut rosette disease?
DR. WAITE: As far as Falls Church, Va., but not much in the North.
MR. REED: The question was asked yesterday as to whether it could not be
overcome in this latitude.
DR. WAITE: That nobody knows. The soils east and south of Washington are
all acid, and the conditions are wrong for rosette. The soils have no
tendency to chlorosis. They are, in fact, antichlorotic. Theoretically
you could get the rosette conditions in the Piedmont region, but you are
almost certain not to find them over this way.
Now in the organization of the Bureau of Plant Industry there are at
least two main offices where nut problems would be studied; in the
Division of Horticultural and Pomological Investigations and in my
office, where the diseases are studied. Remember, also, that the insect
pests are studied in the Bureau of Entomology; they have experimented
quite extensively with pecan insect pests, and have the organization to
handle such pests. Of course there is a Bureau of Markets and the Office
of Soil Fertility in the Bureau of Plant Industry, which handle the
pecan, incidental to the other studies.
MR. BIXBY: I would like to ask Dr. Waite a question. The association has
spent a good deal of time in developing exact methods of measuring
quantitatively the various characteristics of nuts which are considered
valuable, and that study has given us methods of comparing notes from
year to year, comparing the same nut, and I have noticed that it is
quite frequent that the kind of nut that is good one year, will not be
so good the next year. To take an example, the Clark
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