OF WASHINGTON, VOLUME XVI, 11)11 121 



Vegas, and at other points in Havana and Pinar del Rio province-. 

 Immediately following this serious outbreak of the boll weevil, 

 the production of cotton became so unprofitable that none at all 

 was planted, except for a few small plots at the K<tacion.. This 

 alone would not have caused the extermination of the boll weevil, 

 as numerous tree cotton plants remained, growing wild or in 

 dooryards, which would furnish* a constant food supply. A scries 

 of violent hurricanes, however, subsequently destroyed all tin- 

 large cotton trees in western Cub;i. 



When Mr. P. P. Cardin arrived at the Estacion Agronomica in 

 1908 or 1909, he found no boll weevils on the cotton growing 

 there and he has collected none in all the time he has been ento- 

 mologist there. When I arrived in November, 1911, a thorough 

 search was made for the weevil in the plants at the Mstacimi 

 and they were examined every month thereafter until my depar- 

 ture in May, 1912, without success. 



Mr. Van Hermann also told me of Sr. Lorenzo Sane-hex who was 

 attempting to grow cotton at Artemisa, Pinar del Rio Province 

 and seemed to be having considerable success. I visited Mr. 

 Sanchez' place, Finca Consolacion, a plantation of the Artemisa 

 Tobacco Co., about a mile west of Artemisa, on May 3, 1912. 

 Mr. Sanchez has been growing cotton for three years, each year 

 putting in an increased acreage, and had never seen any boll wee- 

 vils in his cotton. I was unable to find any, although a careful 

 search was made. He said he knew of no tree cotton anywhere for 

 miles around which might serve as food plants for the weevil 

 during the years when no cultivated cotton had been grown in 

 western Cuba. He stated that one of the errors of those who 

 grew cotton years ago was to plant in May or June, with the 

 beginning of the rainy season and to attempt to harvest the crop 

 in the early months of the dry season, December or January. 

 He had adopted an entirely different plan of cropping, as the 

 cotton was planted towards the end of the rainy season, October 

 or November, and harvested in the spring before the rains began. 

 At the time I was there, most of the cotton had been picked out, 

 his plants had dropped most of their leaves, had turned brown and 

 there were very few immature bolls. 



During January and February, 1914, I visited Cuba and again 

 examined the cotton at Estacion Agronomica but found 110 boll 

 weevils. On January 13th, I visited the Harvard Experiment 

 Station, conducted by Mr. Robert M. Grey of Central Soledad, 

 Cienfuegos, Santa Clara Province. Mr. Grey staled positively 

 that he had known the boll weevil as long as he had been in ( 'uba 

 (20 years) and that it was undoubtedly present in the vicinity of 

 Cienfuegos at the present time. Neither of us were able to find 

 any weevils, or any indications of their presence, on several bushe- 



