48 JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY [VoL 3 



ing the past year by a large number of inquiries as to methods of 

 exterminating insects in stored grain. There is no question but that 

 the rice weevil is at present the most seriously injurious species of 

 insect occurring in Alabama, and agricultural conditions at the pres- 

 ent time indicate that the importance of its control will be greatly 

 increased in the near future. During the past one or two years, there 

 has been a general movement through the Southern States to increase 

 the cultivation of corn. One of the most potent factors in this cam- 

 paign has been the continued spread of the Mexican cotton boll 

 weevil. The demonstration farm agents, under the direction of Dr. 

 S. A. Eiiapp, have largely extended their work. State departments 

 of agriculture have conducted campaigns through the offering of 

 large cash prizes for the best yields of corn per acre, and many corn 

 clubs, as they are called, have been formed. As a result of these and 

 other educational influences, there has been during the past year more 

 attention given to corn culture in the Southern Gulf States than was 

 ever previously given to that subject. Crops of from 100 to 150 

 bushels per acre have been raised in many cases. Boys, who have 

 entered the competition in the corn clubs have, as a rule, secured bet- 

 ter yields than did their fathers; the demonstration farms generally 

 yield crops of from two to three times the average in their localities. 

 But possibly one of the most potent factors in the new effort to raise 

 more corn has been the high price which corn has commanded during 

 the past year. Planters who have raised only cotton, and depended 

 upon buying what corn they might need, have been obliged to pay 

 from 75 cents to $1.25 per bushel for corn. A large proportion of 

 this corn has been shipped into Alabama from other states. Planters 

 have come to realize that they cannot profitably produce cotton alone 

 and buy corn at $1.00 or more per bushel with which to feed their 

 working stock, nor can they afford to raise hogs and feed them upon 

 com, for which they must pay such prices, and they have become con- 

 vinced also that the South is capable of producing practically as large 

 corn yields as those obtained in what are known as the corn producing 

 states. 



During 1908 the com yield of Alabama was estimated by the best 

 authorities at approximately forty-four million bushels, having a cash 

 value of about $37,000,000, or about 84 cents per bushel. The yield 

 for 1909 will, in all probability, prove to have been even greater than 

 that of 1908 and of higher average market value. 



The large percentage of injury to corn held through the winter has 

 been one of the factors in keeping many planters from raising more 

 corn. While the injury is liable to vary from year to year, it is fre- 



