314 MONTHLY BULLETIN. 



has a working capacity cf 5 cars or 75 l)ales of cotton. Fumigation is 

 conducted as follows: When the charge of cotton is in the chamber the 

 doors are closed and clamped and the air is exhausted until the gauge 

 registers 25 inches. At this stage the gas is generated by introducing 

 into the generator the chemicals in the following order : water, acid 

 and cyanide in solution. The cyanide solution is run into the generator 

 at a rate that will require from 8 to 10 minutes for all of the solution 

 to be introduced. At the expiration of 15 minutes air is permitted to 

 pass through the generator for 5 minutes to wash out all gas that may 

 be in the generator and then the valve between the generator and the 

 chamber is closed. At this stage the air is admitted into the chamber 

 until the vacuum gauge on the same falls to 5 inches. -The cotton is 

 held in the presence of the gas for one hour and 25 minutes additional, 

 making the complete exposure one hour and 45 minutes. The formula 

 for fumigating cotton is 6 ounces avoirdupois sodium cyanide, 6 fluid 

 ounces of sulphuric acid and 6 fluid ounces of water for each 100 cubic 

 feet of chamber space. For all grades of cotton waste as specified the 

 formula is 9 ounces avoirdupois of sodium cyanide to each 100 cubic 

 feet of chamber space. All imported cotton, even to broker's samples, 

 goes through this drastic disinfection process before being permitted 

 to leave the port of entry for distribution in the United States. 



The foregoing regulations and operations were promulgated and 

 devised in an effort to keep out of the United States insects known to 

 work injury to growing cotton in foreign countries, but there are 

 insects very injurious to growing cotton that are widely distributed 

 in the older cotton growing states of the United States, and to keep 

 these (nit cf the state of California is one of the duties of the Quarantine 

 Division of the State Commission of Horticulture. The Mexican Boll 

 Weevil, Anthonomus grandis, is the particular one against which the 

 provisions of Quarantine Order No. 26 are directed. What this insect 

 has cost and is costing the cotton growers of our southern states can not 

 be comprehended by simply printing an array of numerals indicating 

 dollars lost or expended. Congress made the first appropriation of 

 $250,000 in 1904 to commence the fight against the ravages of this pest. 

 Both the campaign and the appropriations have continued throughout 

 the past 12 years and the battle and the appropriations are still going 

 on as is made evident by the introduction of the bill, H. R. 7536, asking 

 the present Congress for $1,000,000 to continue the fight against the 

 I\lexican Boll Weevil. This specific sum asked for the purpose of 

 fighting a single species of insect pest would maintain the Horticul- 

 lural Quarantine Division of this state on its present basis for a term 

 of 50 years. Prevention is better than cure, and the members of the 

 quarantine service are making a concerted effort to prevent the neces- 

 sity of appropriating such sums of money to fight the Mexican Boll 

 Weevil in California, and herewith are recorded and portrayed some 

 of the methods employed to accomplish this purpose. 



Fig. 103 represents the Mexican Boll Weevil and the cotton boll in 

 which it was found and also illustrates the point that while the pro- 

 visions of Quarantine Order No. 26 issued by the State Commissioner 

 of Horticulture prohibits the entrance into California for any purpose 

 whatsoever of cotton seed grown in any locality where the boll weevil 

 is known to exist, the same does not prevent attempts to bring in such 



