Main article: Fermín Tangüis Fermín Tangüis poses with an
example of the “Tangüis cotton” In 1901, Peru’s cotton industry
suffered because of a fungus plague caused by a plant disease
known as “cotton wilt” (more correctly, “fusarium wilt”) caused
by the fungus Fusarium vasinfectum. The plant disease, which
spread throughout Peru, entered plant’s roots and worked its way
up the stem until the plant was completely dried up. Fermín
Tangüis, a Puerto Rican agriculturist who lived in Peru, studied
some species of the plant that were affected by the disease to a
lesser extent and experimented in germination with the seeds of
various cotton plants. In 1911, after 10 years of experimenting
and failures, Tangüis was able to develop a seed which produced
a superior cotton plant resistant to the disease. The seeds
produced a plant that had a 40% longer (between 29 mm and 33 mm)
and thicker fiber that did not break easily and required little
water. The Tangüis cotton, as it became known, is the variety
which is preferre