49 



SPREAD OF COTTON BOLL WEEVIL. 



A brief history of the movement of this pest through the 

 United States suggests, from a study of specimens collected in 

 all parts of the infested regions of North America, that there 

 are three lines of dispersion. It seems probable that the boll 

 weevil originated in Guatemala or some other portion of Central 

 America, and that the most typical strain migrated northward 

 through the mountains of Mexico into Arizona, where it is now 

 found as a native species on the wild cotton-like plant Thur- 

 beria thespesioides. The main migration was along the Gulf 

 Coast through the cultivated cotton regions into the United 

 States. The third line of dispersion was through Yucatan across 

 the Gulf, to Cuba. Specimens collected at the three termini of 

 these dispersions appear to be very distinct varieties. That 

 variety which is found on cultivated cotton in the United States 

 is the smallest found and the most variable. The movement of 

 the weevil is controlled by the amount of food supply, which 

 regulates the time and distance of, natural movement by winds 

 and floods, and by artificial agencies. 



The most interesting development of the present year is the 

 extension of the weevil to the northern limits of cotton growth 

 in Oklahoma and Arkansas into Central Tennessee; eastward to 

 the Atlantic Ocean south of Savannah ; and the infestation of 

 practically all the cotton region of Florida. The only Sea Island 

 cotton section now not infested is that of South Carolina. — 

 Science. 



Experiments made in the state of San Paulo, Brazil, by a 

 railway company, showed that five varieties of eucalyptus 

 possessed high fuel value. E. rostrata and E. tcreticonis are 

 represented, in a bulletin of the International Institute of Agri- 

 culture, as being "equal or superior to the best hard woods ; they 

 burn with a short flame and last a long time." E. robusta is 

 mentioned among three varieties that also yield woods which 

 are hard, though a little less so than the two just previously 

 described. 



Sisal fiber in British East Africa is stated, in the annual report 

 of the department of agriculture of that protectorate, to have 

 an output of 50 tons a week, which is realizing £28 to £38 

 ($140 to $190) a ton in the London market. 



