April, '19] HUNTER: PINK BOLLWORM WORK 167 



plantation in the Laguna district in the northern portion of the coun- 

 try. It developed that during 1916 about 400 carloads of Mexican 

 seed had been shipped to Texas mills. Such shipments were unprece- 

 dented and due entirely to the disturbances in Mexico which had pre- 

 vented the operations of the large mills in the Laguna, which normally 

 crushed all of the seed produced there. 



The Mexican seed shipped to Texas was received at eleven oil mills 

 located in various parts of the state, some of them in actual contact 

 with continuous cultures of cotton. 



Control Measures in Texas 



Immediately steps were taken to safeguard the Mexican seed in the 

 Texas mills by early and special crushing and in other ways. The mill 

 properties themselves were thoroughly cleaned under the supervision 

 of the Federal Horticultural Board during the winter of 1916-17. 

 This work was followed in 1917 by very thorough inspections by a 

 number of agents of the cotton growers in the vicinities of the mills 

 which had received the Mexican seed. The results of this work were 

 all negative until September 10, 1917, when Inspector Ivan Schiller 

 found a specimen of the pink bollworm in a field at Hearne adjoining a 

 mill which had received 67 carloads of Laguna seed. On October 5 a 

 single specimen was found near the oil mill at Beaumont, Texas, which 

 received 114 carloads from Mexico, ajid on October 25 specimens were 

 taken near Anahuac, in Chambers County. 



The first two of these infestations, namely at Hearne and Beaumont, 

 were very evidently due to the Mexican seed which had been received. 

 The infestation at Anahuac, however, cannot be connected with the 

 seed shipped from Mexico. All investigations which have been con- 

 ducted point to the very strong probability, if not certainty, that the 

 Anahuac infestation was due to the washing ashore and brealdng of a 

 number of bales of Mexican cotton which were carried inland by a 

 storm which passed over Galveston in August, 1915. 



Plan of Operations 



In the three places where infestation was found the same general 

 plan was followed by the board. The first step was to delimit the 

 infestation, the second to destroy, as far as possible, any infestation 

 existing in the fields, and the third to safeguard the cotton and cotton 

 products originating in the infested territory. 



The infestation at Ilcarne was found to be very limited. This was 

 determined by inspections made by about fifty entomologists detailed 

 from the Bureau of Entomology and by a number of regular employees 

 of the board. Likewise tiie infestation at Beaumont was found to be 



