22 
infests any given locality only for a time, and then disappears or 
migrates. Though not solved in all its details, much light can be 
thrown on this problem. 
As has been previously indicated, the weevil thrives best and breeds 
most freely under conditions of liberal, though not excessive, humidity, 
accompanied by plenty of shade for the ground. ‘The latter is afforded 
by the rank-growing cotton of the rich bottom-land sections. Such 
conditions are normally and essentially lacking for the greater portion 
of the supposedly immune territory in question. The weevil had been 
introduced and had attracted much attention in some portions as early 
as 1893. With normal rainfall from that time until 1895 and a por- 
tion of 1896, the pest multiplied rapidly and made such havoc on the 
cotton crop of southwestern Texas as to practically destroy it. 
With 1896 began a period of drought and much distress among the 
farmers and cattlemen. Rainfall for this territory being rather lim- 
ited at best, was even less abundant for the year 1897, when an unprece- 
dented drought afflicted Texas generally and that section particularly. 
The year following was still considerably below normal in rainfall, 
thus making a series of three years of drought. The soils for the most 
part ere sandy loams, and under the climatic conditions mentioned the 
plant growth of cotton was very greatly reduced. The conditions of 
drought made the rays from the scorching hot sun all the more pene- 
trating and heated the light sandy surface of the soil to an unusual 
degree. One could hardly walk over it with bare feet. Hence two 
important conditions—shade and moisture—favorable to the weevil, 
were lacking. In addition, many thousands of the fallen squares 
became so heated while lying on the ground that the larva in them 
perished. 
The conditions which make a scant plant growth for cotton also cut 
short the range for grazing. They have the further effect of maturing 
the bolls set very much earlier than usual. This resulted in the crop 
being gathered correspondingly earlier, with a few immature bolls 
remaining. Under these conditions the farmers and cattlemen, in the 
extremity of their distress, gathered in their cattle and grazed off the 
foliage and every tender portion of the cotton. As has already been 
outlined, no practice could have been more eradicative in its tendency; 
and, though not intentionally, the planters and cattlemen contributed 
most materially to the practical extermination of the pest within their 
borders. The three successive years of drought led to the quite general 
establishment of this grazing practice, and if the farmers and stock 
raisers of that section will only maintain it they have little to fear 
from the boll weevil. 
It would therefore seem that the weevil was practically eradicated 
through force of circumstances rather than that the pest migrated en 
masse. It also suggests that, should there come a period of unusual 
rainfall for a few years in the territory now free from the pest and 

