120 • The Bulletin. 



single remedy. Yet by putting together all the facts we know about its life 

 and habits we are able to partly dodge, partly outwit, and partly kill the 

 weevil, so that after all a profitable cotton crop is possible; and yet it is 

 utterly impossible if we do not take advantage of what has been found out 

 in these studies. 



The Division of Entomology of the North Carolina State Department of 

 Agriculture is doing what it reasonably can to assist the farmers of the Stat6 

 in the control of insects. We answer hundreds upon hundreds of letters every 

 year upon this subject ; we issue circular-letters, circulars, and bulletins about 

 insects from time to time as occasion may demand. We are accumulating a 

 collection of the insects of the State in order to know what insects we have 

 and the parts of the State where each is found; we inspect the nurseries of 

 the State to prevent the sending out of infested trees, and we inspect orchards 

 in all parts of the State to show what insects are at work and how to control 

 them ; we give actual field lessons or "demonstrations" in the spraying of 

 fruit trees to protect them from insects ; we inspect shipments of plants com- 

 ing into the State from foreign countries to prevent new serious pests; we 

 discuss the subject of insects at Farmers' Institutes and other meetings all 

 over the State, and we make some new studies of the lives or remedies for 

 insect pests every year. 



All this requires time, patience, energy, and careful labor, yet we regard 

 it as a pleasant line of duty when we see the many evidences of its usefulness 

 and appreciation. A few years ago one could almost count on the fingers of 

 one hand the fruit growers who sprayed ; now they number hundreds. A few 

 years ago we dreaded the "Fly" in our wheat, but now nearly all farmers 

 plant a little later, so that serious injury is unusual. A few years ago the 

 Potato Beetle destroyed our potatoes at will, but now we use poison and 

 raise potatoes in spite of it. A few years ago the gray Cabbage Louse would 

 kill our cabbages, but now we easily control it with a solution of soap in 

 water. A few years ago we regarded the House-Fly as an irritating nuisance 

 w'hich we only attempted to fight with a slap (and perhaps an oath thrown 

 in), but now we know the importance of the fly in spreading disease, and 

 people everywhere, and doctors esiiecially, are waging an intelligent warfare 

 agaijQSt it. 



The study of insects is no small subject, however small the insects may be 

 themselves. Our crops suffer from them, our shade trees suffer from them, 

 •our forests suffer from them, our live stock suffers from them, and even man 

 Mmself not only suffers annoyance, but contracts deadly disease as a result 

 of their presence. We may well be thankful that our awakening intelligence 

 «ho\vs us that these pests ai*e not inevitably and unalterably present as a 

 •curse from Providence, but that they are capable of being controlled by in- 

 lelligent effort when we once know all the essential facts about them. But 

 •we must get all the facts; we must lieep digging for the yet unknown "truths 

 that shall make us free." 



TOBACCO CULTURE. 



Bi- E. G. Moss. 



In considering the tobacco crop there are two dominant factors, viz . quality 

 and quantity, and it is an indisputable fact that if you increase one or the 

 other out of the proper proportion it is done to the detriment of the other 

 factor, and rice versa. Consequently, however expert a man may be in grow- 

 ing and handling a crop of tobacco, he cannot lay down one set rule by which 

 each farmer may be guided. When you grow corn, if you can double your 

 yield per acre you profit by the operation ; if you double your yield of cotton 

 per acre you profit. Generally speaking, when you incn»ase your cotton or 

 corn per acre in quantity your quality remains constant or increases ; but it is 

 different with tobacco. You may double your number of pounds i>er acre, and 

 if it is done by indiscriminate methods, such as unbalanced fertilizers and 



