92 THE MEXICAN COTTON-BOLL WEEVIL. 



following means: (1) By passage of weevils through the gins along 

 with the seed; (2) by the weevils finding their way into the seed 

 house from the receptacle containing the discharge from the cleaner 

 feeder; and (3) by flight from the wagons during the process of 

 unloading. Thus, gins may serve as important agencies in the dis- 

 semination of the boll weevil by the shipment of the seed or possibly 

 of baled cotton. That the danger in baled cotton is slight is shown 

 by the fact that no colonies have been found to have become estab- 

 lished in spite of extensive shipments out of the infested territory 

 which have been made for several years. 



In many localities the unginned cotton is carried for a distance of 

 20 miles or more to the gins. It frequently happens that this car- 

 riage is into uninfested territory. Under such conditions it is evident 

 that an important form of artificial dissemination of the weevil 

 occurs. Two examples will be given of the possibility of the dissem- 

 ination of the weevil by such means. In October, 1904, a shipload of 

 unginned cotton was carried across Lake Calcasieu, La., from Grand 

 Lake and Lakeside to Cameron. The latter place was free of the 

 weevil and isolated by extensive stretches of swamp lands. Shortly 

 after the shipment reached Cameron, however, an infestation was 

 found in the gin yard. It was in all probability due to the carriage 

 of the cotton from the opposite side of the lake. In the other case a 

 shipment of unginned cotton was made from Yucatan, Mexico, to 

 Mobile, Ala., in 1909. The Mexican locality was infested by the 

 boll weevil, while the region about Mobile was free of the insect. No 

 infestation resulted in this case for the reason that the shipment from 

 Mexico was accidentally delayed in transit and did not reach Mobile 

 until all of the weevils had died. If the shipment had been made 

 according to the regular schedule there is little doubt that an infesta- 

 tion in the vicinity of Mobile would have resulted. 



MOVEMENT OF COTTONSEED. 



In ginning districts on the edge of the infested territory the custo- 

 mers are composed of those whose fields are infested and those 

 whose fields are not infested. The inevitable result is that weevils are 

 constantly brought into the gin yards by the farmers, and in the subse- 

 quent movements of the cotton are spread broadcast. Some of them 

 may alight upon the wagons filled with the seed to be returned to the 

 farm and consequently may be frequently carried to uninfested 

 farms. The most striking illustration of infestation by this means 

 was found in Shelby County, Tex., in 1904. An establishment on 

 the border line ginned for farmers in a radius of 10 miles or more. 

 Some of the customers had the weevil. The ginner himself had a 

 few weevils on his place, but had raised an exceptionally large crop 

 of big-boll cotton, for the seed of which quite a demand arose. An 

 investigation of the farms in this district showed that all the custo- 

 mers who had purchased this seed had infestations near their seed 

 house. Very few of the other farms in the vicinity were found to be 

 infested. 



Cottonseed is frequently shipped considerable distances from the 

 gins to the oil mills. As has been shown there are abundant chances 

 that the seed may become infested at a gin within the infested terri- 

 tory. (See Plate IX.) At the oil nulls the cars are unloaded and 



