4 The Bulletin. 



State by insects is not too high, and we are also convinced that this 

 loss is growing steadily greater, and will continue to do so until our 

 cotton growers begin to take these enemies into consideration and 

 plant and handle their crops in such a way as to reduce the loss. 



How long the cotton growers of the State will be willing to calmly 

 sacrifice this amount to insects,' is largely for them to decide. While 

 it is true that no grower, however energetic and earnest, can entirely 

 prevent loss from this source, it is safe to say that at least one- 

 third of this total loss could be prevented, at trivial expense, merely 

 by the adoption of different methods of rotation or preparation of the 

 crop, planting, etc. The object of this Bulletin is to show where 

 these losses to the cotton crop occur, to describe the insects responsible 

 for them, and to set forth the remedies or methods which may be 

 employed in preventing or avoiding these injuries. 



GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS. 



Cotton, like corn and other grains, is a crop of what we may call 

 low commercial value. That is to say, the cash return from an acre 

 devoted to cotton is low as compared to the return from some other 

 crops. An acre devoted to strawberries may yield a net return of 

 $400, but an acre devoted to cotton will usually yield not over $50. 

 Thus, while one might profitably spend $40 or $50 per acre to combat 

 insects on strawberries, the average farmer cannot spend more than a 

 few dollars per acre at most to combat cotton insects, if he is to make 

 a profit, "With any crop which is grown in such large areas, and where 

 there are so many individual -plants, it is usually unprofitable to 

 adopt any method which calls for the treatment of individual plants, 

 unless such treatment is effective in preventing the spread of the 

 trouble to other parts of the field. We must, therefore, depend 

 mainly upon such methods of preparing the land, selection of seed and 

 varieties, fertilization, cultivation, handling, etc., as will render the 

 crop least liable to injury, or will enable it to quickly recover when 

 attacked. Treatment for a pest must frequently be given before the 

 pest actually appears, thus preventing its injuries, rather than to 

 attempt a remedy after the damage has become evident, 



CULTURAL CONSIDERATIONS. 



It has already been stated that in combating insect pests of cot- 

 ton we must largely depend on methods of managing the crop so that 

 it shall be least subject to attack, or to make it grow so vigorously 

 that it will quickly recover from injury. Such methods may be 

 called Cultural Methods since they imply merely a changing or modi- 

 fication of the methods of ordinary culture already in common use. 



Rotation. — Intelligent farmers everywhere are coming to see that 

 some system of rotation is necessary to secure the best results with 

 any crop. To grow any one crop continuously on the same land year 



