Apr. 17, 1916 



Insect Injury to Cotton Seedlings 



133 



In order to determine definitely the amount of injury present in the 

 various cotton fields around Tallulah and also the prevalence of the 

 worms, a considerable number of examinations were made during the 

 latter part of April. In these observations only the worms found on 

 the cotton seedlings were noted. In order to make the figures more 

 accurately represent the condition of the field, the plants were examined 

 in groups of 100 each in all parts of the field. The results are summarized 

 in Table II. 



Table II. — Records of examinations for insect injury to cotton seedlings infields around 



Tallulah, La. 



From this it is seen that the percentage of plants injured at the various 

 plantations visited ranged from 6.7 to 32, with an average of 18.3 per 

 cent for the 11,000 seedlings examined. In the course of these obser- 

 vations 66 lepidopterous larvae in all were found. By far the greater 

 part of these were the "tussock" larvae and the remainder were either 

 cutworms or "measuring worms." 



The possibility of the soils having some influence upon the extent of 

 damage was considered, but the writers were unable to secure sufficient 

 information to allow definite conclusions. Soils in the vicinity of Tallulah 

 may be roughly classed as either "sandy" or "buckshot." The former is 

 the light, sandy land found on the bayou fronts, while the "buckshot" is 

 the dark, heavy, stiff" "back land." Under boll-weevil conditions "buck- 

 shot" land is not adapted to cotton culture; hence, only two fields of this 

 type of soil were located for study. The percentage of injured seedhngs 

 in these two fields was 6.7 and 8.4. These were the lowest records made 

 and are considerably below the average of sandy fields near by. Whether 

 or not this lesser degree of injury was due to the soil is open to doubt. 

 Owing to the "coldness" of " buckshot" land in the spring, the cottonseed 

 germinates slowly and consequently the plants were considerably smaller 

 27471°— 16 3 



