Page 265

H/7/1916 -1- 251
Riverton
July 4^th 1916
We had a safe and sane 4th of
July. Several members were absent and
many agreeable guests fille their places.
The minutes were read and no
fault found. 1^st Reader, Ellen Farquhar,
read from the weekly "News letter"
Watermelon wilt, a serious disease. It has
been known in the South for many years
and has now extended to the Pacific
Coast. It is caused by a fungus which lives
in the soil, and enters the roots, plugging
up the water carrying vessels, preventing
the rise of moisture, thus causiing the
wilting and death of the plant. A field
once infested shows the same trouble in
suceeding years. The disease is spread
in different ways. 1^st by particles of
earth carrying spores which are easily
scattered by the wind & by impliments
used in cultivating, [a?]nd be
the feet of men and animals, by infected
stable manure and drainage
water flowing from an infected field
There is nothing that can be done to
save a field of melons when once attacked
by the wilt, but the disease may
be avoided by not planting in an infected
field, not useing manure
which has had old watermelon vines
in it, not planting in fields which have
received drainage water from infested fields.