140 Journal of Agriculture. [9 March, 1908. 



mSECT PESTS IN FOREIGN LANDS. 



{Continued from page jg). 



Fourth Progress Report by jMr. W. W. Froggatt, F.L.S. 



R.M.S. Morro Castle, 



Gulf 'of Mexico, 

 29th November, 1907. 



I have the honour herewith to forward to you a progress report of my 

 movements since I left Washington, D.C., on 15th October. 



Accompanied by Dr. L. C. Howard, Chief of the Entomological Divi- 

 sion, U.S. Department of Agriculture, I left Washington for New Or- 

 leans at y a.m., and passed through Virginia, North Carolina, South 

 Carolina, and Alabama, reaching New Orleans at 10.30 p.m. on the 

 1 6th. After passing through Virginia, we came into tobacco and cotton 

 country, the greater part of which, right into Texas, is sublet to the ne- 

 groes who work it on the shares system. The landowner finds the land, 

 mules, and seed, and pays the negroes' store bill till the crop is taken off, so 

 always has his tenants in debt. A good crop is a bale to the acre, 500 

 11 )s., woirth at present about 5.5 dollars, or slightly over 10 cents a lb., 

 but it has been down to 5 cents, which is the estimated cost of produc- 

 tion. Roughly, 40 dollars an acre is a good harvest, which the landowner 

 and tenant divide, so that after the cost of production is taken into ac- 

 count, the value per acre is not great. Where the cotton boll weevil 

 (Anthonomus grandis) has spread, the yield over many thousand acres in 

 the greater part of Texas and Western Louisiana has been reduced to half 

 a bale an acre and it has only been the high price of cotton that has kept 

 thousands of acres from going out of cultivation. The cotton seed is 

 of some value for oil making, cattle food, and manure; it is hoped that the 

 i-talks may be used for the manufacture of paper, and experiments are 

 being carried out to test this product. The halves system has led to 

 \ery poor cultivation, and the tenant does not take any trouble to clear up 

 the dead cotton plants after the crop is gathered, and so it is thus verv 

 difficult to deal with the boll weevil which is spreading northwards at the 

 rate of 30 miles a vear ; it has crossed the Mississippi River, and is now 

 pt Baton Rouge. 



At New Orleans Professor Hunter, who is in charge of the Agricul- 

 tural Experiment Station at Dallas (Texas), met us, and we went on next 

 day to the Agricultural Station at Baton Rouge, and the Pest Crop Com- 

 mission of Louisiana Offices under the charge of Mr. Newell, where ex- 

 periments dealing with the cattle tick, boll weevil, and other pests are 

 lieing carried out. These laboratories are fitted out in a very elaborate 

 style and there is a regular staff engaged under the State Government. 

 The chief methods advocated in tick extermination are starving them out 

 of each paddock by removing and smearing all stock, and thus gradually 

 decreasing the infested area; dipping is discouraged. An introduced ant 

 {Iridomyrmex humilis), allied tO' several of our S]>ecies, which is said to 

 have been introduced from Buenos Ayres, S'outh America, is a very serious 

 house-pest all over this State, and is spreading rapidly. 



We left on the same day for Shrieveport, and arrived there at 10.30 

 p.m. Next morning we visited Mr, Hood's office, where experiments are 



