41 



sion and broad-minded treatment. Here we have insects which the 

 infested States fail to control, either through inability or neglect, and 

 they spread beyond their boundaries. Quarantines against them are 

 comparatively useless unless the insects are controlled in the badly 

 infested region. The National Government makes appropriations 

 partly to aid in study of the pests for the information of the inhab- 

 itants of uninfested States and partly to prevent spread, but it can 

 have no authority in the latter respect without State legislation. 

 Undoubtedly at least one of the two moths in Xew England — the 

 gypsy moth — might be controlled were the States infested w^illing to 

 spend sufficient money to confine it within their borders; and the 

 same is largely true of the boll Aveevil, were it generally controlled 

 by destruction of the stalks as outlined. But why should one State 

 tax itself to subdue a pest which is causing it loss and others gain 

 from increased i^rices, as in the case of the weevil, to prevent it from 

 spreading to them? On the other hand, if it is possible for the State 

 to do so, is the General Government justified in assuming the task 

 if it had the authority? These are questions of a broad nature which 

 it seems to the writer are rather new and vrhich must be met sooner 

 or later. In their solution an association such as this should take a 

 leading part. 



Mr. Skinner remarked that certain newspapers had published a 

 statement that an attempt was being made among cotton growers of 

 the South to combine and destroy a portion of this year's crop in order 

 to raise the price of cotton. In view of this, might we not look upon 

 the boll weevil as a beneficial insect in years like the present, when the 

 crop is larger than usual? 



Mr. Hunter said that the results reached by the Dej^artment of 

 Agriculture agreed fully with those presented in Mr. Sanderson's 

 paper. Climatic conditions are so important that methods that fail 

 to take account of their influence are likely to give w^idely different 

 results in different seasons. A fairly good remedy is at hand, viz, 

 the actual destruction of large numbers of the weevils in the fall; 

 but the general indifference of the people to suggestions makes it 

 difficult to get cooperation in this. They grasp at any possibility, such 

 as the use of mineral paint, attracting to cotton-seed meal, and other 

 quack nostrums which have been shown to be of no use whatever. 

 As to the suggestion that the boll weevil might be a benefit in raising 

 the price of cotton, it is a fallacy to suppose that the increase in price 

 was due to the boll weevil. It seems an important possibility that 

 predictions of great commercial value in regard to prospective injury 

 may be based on the principle suggested by Mr. Sanderson. 



