The Bulletin. IT 



4 gallons. The soap is shaved in thin pieces and placed in a pail or 

 kettle over a fire with enough water to dissolve it. When heated to 

 boiling, stir vigorously and the soap will dissolve. Then remove 

 from the fire ami add the water required to bring it to the proper 

 amount. A thorough application of this solution will be quite ef- 

 fectual, and one such treatment will usually check their spread ami 

 "tide over" the plants until hot weather comes, when the lice become 

 unnoticeable. 



See also what is said under the headings Time of Planting 

 (p. 6), Fertilization (p. 7), Cultivation (p. 7), and Planting Ex- 

 cess of Seed (p. G). 



THE COTTON ROOT-LOUSE. (Aphis maidi-radicis.) 



Order Hemiptera. Family Aphididce. 



(Also called "Blue-bug.") 



Description, — A small greenish or bluish plant-louse, attacking the 

 roots of young cotton, causing it to be of slow, belated, stunted growth, 

 or killing the plants entirely. Known also by the name of "Blue 

 Bug." 



.1// I 'u recognized Pest, — Heretofore there has been no published 

 record of this insect as an enemy of cotton, though it has long ranked 

 as a serious enemy of corn in Illinois and adjacent States, where 

 it is known as the "Corn Boot-louse." It was recently reported to 

 the United States Department of Agriculture at Washington, as at- 

 tacking cotton roots in South Carolina, but it seems that it has never 

 been recognized by entomologists as one of the standard cotton pests. 

 Vague reports of its ravages had reached the State Department of 

 Agriculture from time to time, always indicating that it was serious, 

 but always these reports came at such a time or in such a way that 

 they were not substantiated by specimens. It was only this spring 

 (1908) that w 7 e were enabled to secure sufficient material to ascertain 

 d( finitely the species responsible for the damage. 



Injury in North Carolina. — During the last eight years there 

 have been reports of this pest from time to time in county papers, and 

 several limes it has been asked about at Banners' Institutes. But it 

 was not until the spring of 1907 that it was promptly and specifically 

 reported by letter in such a way as to admit of positive record. Be- 

 tween June 1th ami July 12th, 1907, it was reported five times, once 

 each from the comities of Bladen, Duplin, Johnston, Robeson and 

 Wayne. That it was very destructive in 1907 is shown well by the 



following letter : 



Goldsboro, N. C, June 27, 1907. 

 On the 1st day of June the cotton crop of Wayne and surrounding counties 

 was fully normal; to-day <i."> per cent would, perhaps, more than represent the 

 present condition. Root lice (Aphis) have been so universally destructive that 

 it is rare to find a field untouched, and most fields are permanently damaged 

 from one-fourth to one-half. Corn, also, has been very much injured in some 

 sections by this same pest. Yours, 



J. W. Hall. 



