A FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW 



OF THE 



IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES. 



LIBRAI 

 NBW Y< 

 BOTANK 



QARDI 



Vol. VIII. No. 192. 



BAKBADOS, SEPTEMBER 4, 1909. 



Price Id. 



CONTENTS. 



Animal Pests of Cotton. 



T the present time, when the cotton crop 

 has begun to make a good stand, and when 

 conditions must be favourable if healthy 

 plants capable of bearing a good product are to be 

 obtained, it is extremely important that a careful watch 

 should be kept for the appearance of those enemies 

 which are able seriously to weaken, if not to kill the 

 plant, with a view to applying promptly such remedial 

 measures as will minimize the harm as far as possible. 



Much should have been done already in the matter of 

 preventive measures which, after all, are more impor- 

 tant than those which are remedial. These would 

 have included the burning of old cotton plants, careful 

 cultivation of the soil and disinfection of the seed, the 

 last of which is, of course, important in connexion with 

 the control of plant, rather than animal, pests. 



The kind of growth which the cotton plant is 

 making at present is vegetative; this includes the 

 extension in length and breadth of those parts which 

 form means of support and communication, such as the 

 stem with its branches, and the leaf-stalks ; and the 

 formation of new areas for absorption by the develop- 

 ment of fresh leaves and rootlets. All such growth is 

 taking place preparatory to the production of the 

 reproductive organ.s and the subsequent bearing of 

 fruit, and for it to do so successfully, it entails the 

 active formation of plant food and the quick transfer- 

 ence of it from the parts where this is made (the leaves) 

 to those where it is required for the formation of new 

 tissues. It is the presence of this food and the fact 

 that young, succulent tissues are being continually 

 formed, which render the plant so likely to be attacked 

 by animal pests, especially insects, at this time. As all 

 this has to do simply with vegetative growth, not with 

 that which is reproductive, it will be convenient to con- 

 fine the attention, at present, to those pests which 

 attack the growing plant. 



A division of these pests into two kinds may be 

 made : those that actually disturb or consume the 

 tissue in order to obtain food, and those that 

 merely pierce it for the same purpose. This division 

 is important, as it often affords a guide in selecting 

 a method for the destruction of a given pest. The 

 chief of those included in the first kind are : the cotton 



