201 



be very young and small during the worm season and so can easily 

 be hand picked and poisoned with Paris Green. 



The Cotton Stainer (Dysdercus andreae) is found generally in 

 all cotton fields more or less, but it does not seem to like cotton 

 more than the surrounding vegetation. It is seldom that it is found 

 in large quantities except in small areas. It does very little harm 

 to Sea Island Cotton, whereas it seems to like the Upland Cotton 

 more and stains it considerably. I have noticed this on a few 

 trees which got into my Sea Island fields. 



By laying down a few half rotten boards on the ground on the 

 affected spots they act as a trap : early in the morning turn them 

 over and apply hot water. By holding a small pan with a little 

 Jeyes' fluid in it immediately under the cotton bolls, as they first 

 open, while the insects are eating the vegetable wax, and shaking 

 the boll over the pan, two children in one day will clean out any 

 affected spot. I attach very little importance to this pest as the 

 means for destroying it are very cheap and ready at hand. 



But the cotton worm is a serious matter and information is badly 

 required as to its life history and best modes of treatment at its 

 different stages. 



Time of Planting 



There is such a marked difference in the quality of the Sea 

 Island Cotton which is planted and reaped in the proper months, 

 against that planted out of season, that is quite astonishing, and I 

 think that we should do all in our power to impress this on the 

 community. I planted twenty acres in December and January : it 

 fruited heavily : the dry weather in February and March brought 

 it to the ripe stage prematurely and the showers in April caused 

 the sap to flow into the bolls. This created a tendency to germi- 

 nate with the result that I had to cut down the twenty acres. 



It would seem to me that the planting of cotton should be done 

 as nearly as possible at the same time that corn is best planted. 



II, 



By S. Stricker. 



I beg to report that the pests that did the most damage to the 

 experimental fields of cotton grown on this estate, were the Cotton 

 and Cut worms. 



Cotton Worms — I say cotton worms for there were several varie- 

 ties but chiefly the usual green cotton worm, and a larger cater- 

 piller covered thickly with black hairs and with a red head. I 

 found the moth of the cotton worms, described in the A. B. C. of 

 Cotton Planting, also a yellow moth, a pink moth with white spots, 

 and a pure white moth. There were others but not as numerous 

 as those mentioned. 



The field had to be carefully watched for entire invasion, after 

 showers of rain, and invasion of patches of the field, after the 

 plants were fully matured, too. In practice, I found that sprinkling 

 with Paris Green suspended in water was ineffective, for the reason 

 that the under surfaces of the leaves could not be reached by the 



