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Updated: May 13, 2025
This fungus, called Sclerotium sp., or "Rolf's Sclerotium," is noteworthy because it attacks potatoes, squash, cowpea, and a long list of other garden vegetables and ornamental plants. The only satisfactory means of control is rotation of crops, using corn, small grain, and the Iron cowpea, a variety immune to this and other diseases.
"The cowpea roots and stubble would contain less nitrogen than the cowpea crop takes from a soil capable of yielding thirty bushels of corn or oats. Only about one-tenth of the nitrogen contained in the cowpea plant is left in the roots and stubble when the crop is harvested. Suppose the yield is two tons per acre of cowpea hay!
The only common crops safe to use in such a rotation in the South are corn, oats, velvet beans, beggar weed, peanuts, and the Iron cowpea. The use of other varieties of cowpea than the Iron is particularly to be avoided, on account of the danger of stocking the land with root-knot. Fortunately, the disease is serious only in sandy or light soils.
Percy made a few computations and then replied: "If you sell the wheat; feed all the corn, oats, and cowpea hay and half of the straw and corn fodder, and use the other half for bedding; and, if you save absolutely all of the manure produced, including both the solid and liquid excrement; then it would be possible to recover and return to the land about 173 pounds of nitrogen during the four years, compared with the 200 pounds taken from the soil."
Thornton as he made some notations. "It is easy to remember what we think about much and often," said Percy; "as easy to remember that a ton of cowpea hay contains 43 pounds of nitrogen as that Blairville is 53 miles from Richmond." "I have added those figures together," continued Mr. Thornton, "and I find that the three crops, corn, oats, and wheat, would require 171 pounds of nitrogen.
About fifty acres of land were cut over for about sixteen tons of hay. The corn was all put in shock, and the fodder as well as the grain used for feed, the refuse from the fodder and poor hay serving as bedding. About three tons of cowpea hay of excellent quality were secured from the twelve acres, and fifty barrels of apples were put in storage.
A rotation of crops that will bring tomatoes on the land once in three years has been found in Florida to prevent loss from Fusarium wilt. This fungus does not attack any other crop than tomatoes, so far as known, though it is very closely related to species of Fusarium producing similar diseases in cotton, melon, cowpea, flax, etc.
"Oh, yes, clover will grow very well, indeed, but cowpeas is a much better crop than clover. Our best farmers prefer the cowpea; and after a crop of cowpeas, you can raise large crops of any kind." "Of course you know of those who have been successful in restoring some of these old farms," Percy suggested.
The remedy in greenhouse culture is thorough soil sterilization. In the open field this is impracticable and recourse must be had to a rotation with immune crops, which will starve out the root-knot. It must now be borne in mind that the root-knot worm can attack cotton, cowpea, okra, melons and a very large number of other plants.
Then we also have the cowpea bacteria, and these seem to be the same as the bacteria of the wild partridge pea, a kind of sensitive plant with yellow flowers, and a tiny goblet standing upright at the base of each compound leaf, the plant called Cassia Chamaecrista by the botanist." "Nitrification is an altogether " "Well, I declare! Excuse me, Sir, but that's Charlie calling the cows.
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