19 



Fanners' Institutes. — The demand for addresses at insti- 

 tute meetings conducted by this college and by the State 

 Department of Agriculture has been much greater tnan 1 

 have felt at liberty to take the time to supply. Meetings of 

 the State Horticultural Society and Farmers' Institutes 

 have been addressed by me. There is now considerable de- 

 mand for illustrated lectures on the cotton boll weevil prob- 

 lem, and these should be given so far as may be possible. 



The Cotton Boll Weevil. — The cotton boll weevil has con- 

 tinued its eastward advance during the past season and has 

 been found within six or eight miles of the Alabama line, 

 but so far as we know, it does not yet occur in Alabama. 

 It is very probable that this important insect pest will in- 

 vade the State during 1010, and every possible step should 

 be taken to minimize the damage which it will certainly 

 cause if present practices in cotton culture are continued 

 unchanged. 



Adams Fund Investigations. — During the past year pro- 

 ject No. 4, entitled ''Investigation of Life History, Eco- 

 nomic Relationships and Injury of the 'Rice Weevil,' 

 iCalandra oryza, L.) , Attacking Corn in Alabama, with a 

 Study of Methods for Its Control/' has been approved by 

 the Office of Experment Stations for this department and 

 substituted for project No. 2, relating to the study of the 

 fire ant (^olenopsis geminfita) . which was found to occur 

 but rarely in this locality. The new project deals with 

 a problem of great value to the planters of Alabama, and 

 in many respects can be carried on simultaneously with 

 project No. 3, relating to fumigation investigations. In the 

 fight against the boll weevil, more corn must be grown, and 

 this means that some method of preserving it against injury 

 from corn infesting pests must be worked out for the 

 South. 



Material progress ha,^ been made in the fumigation pro- 

 ject, upon which our efforts have been largely concentrated. 

 The magnitude, as well as the importance, of this investi- 

 gation becomes more evident as the work proceeds. The 

 results thus far obtained, while only preliminary, are still 



