2i 4 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



consequence the staying of the plague by this means soon 

 became impracticable. Not to dwell on details, it will suffice 

 to state that by 1903 the pest had spread over almost the whole 

 of Texas, while a few sporadic outbreaks (ultimately traced 

 to direct transport from the affected area) were noticed in 

 Louisiana. 



How much damage the weevil did during the first decade of 

 its presence to the cotton crops in Texas is by no means easy 

 to ascertain. Previous to its appearance there had been con- 

 siderable shortage in the produce, due to drought and other 

 unfavourable climatic conditions ; but when once the weevil had 

 made its presence manifest all unsatisfactory results were, as a 

 matter of course, attributed to the pest. 



At first it was assumed that cotton-growing would have to be 

 given up in Texas as a result of the visitation ; but more sober 

 estimates resolved themselves into the conviction that it would 

 no longer be reasonable to expect that the yield of the country 

 in cotton would double itself in the course of a few years. At a 

 rough estimate, the damage done by the weevil to the cotton crop 

 in Texas up to the year 1903 was put down at about two million 

 sterling. Fears were at this time entertained that equally 

 serious damage would accrue by the spread of the insect to the 

 States east of the Mississippi, but whether these anticipations 

 have been realised we are unaware. 



Certain remedial measures — notably the cultivation and intro- 

 duction of a mite parasitic on the weevil — were suggested in a 

 Farmers' Bulletin issued by the Bureau in 1903 ; and a year later 

 the authorities felt themselves justified in writing as follows : 



" In spite of the general serious outlook, however, it must be 

 stated that fears of the damage the weevil may do are very often 

 much exaggerated, especially in newly invaded regions. It is 

 not at all necessary to abandon cotton. The work of the 

 Division of Entomology for several seasons has demonstrated 

 that a crop can be grown profitably in spite of the boll-weevil, 

 and this experience is duplicated by many planters in Texas." 



By 1906 the officers of the Bureau were enabled to write in a 

 still more hopeful strain. In the early stages of the investigation 

 it was observed that weevil-attack is often followed by a decided 

 change in the structure of the tissues constituting the bolls and 

 buds. The interiors of such develop a mass of "proliferating" 

 tissue which tends to close up more or less completely all vacant 



