6 
1901 the annual increase in the infested territory has averaged 
26,880 square miles, but in one exceptional season, namely, 1904, 
51,500 square miles became infested. Of course, the figures given 
do not refer to the area in cotton. In many parts of the infested 
territory the area devoted to cotton is much less than 10 per cent of 
the total area. 
At the present time the weevil is found more or less extensively 
in five States—Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Okla- 
homa. In Mississippi 18 counties are infested, in Arkansas 28, and 
in Oklahoma about one-fifth of the State. The total area infested 
comprises about 225,000 square miles and this covers about 36 per 
cent of the cotton acreage of the United States. (See fig. 1.) 
DAMAGE. 
The damage done by the boll weevil varies greatly from year to 
year and also in different parts of the infested area. As the rainfall 
increases the damage becomes greater. In prairie regions, where the 
insect obtains but little protection through the winter, it never be- 
comes as numerous as in other quarters where favorable conditions 
for hibernation are found. These facts, together with variations due 
to winter conditions, make it rather difficult to estimate the exact 
damage that has been done. Some years ago the writer stated, from 
the statistics then available, that the weevil caused a reduction of at 
least 50 per cent of the cotton crop in regions invaded by it, but that 
after the first few years the farmers generally resorted to proper 
means to greatly reduce this loss. In many individual cases the means 
of control perfected by the Bureau of Entomology have been applied 
so successfully that the crop has been fully as large as before the com- 
ing of the weevil. This was not accomplished, however, without some- 
what increasing the cost of production. The estimate of an initial 
falling off in production of 50 per cent was verified by Prof. E. D. 
Sanderson, formerly State entomologist of Texas, who arrived at his 
figures in an entirely different way. 
The average yield per acre in Texas from 1893 to 1901 (when the 
weevil had not done damage sufficient to affect the general produc- 
tion) was 0.40 bale. The average since that time, 1902 to 1907, was 
0.35 bale. By comparing these periods we have a reasonably accurate 
basis for estimating the damage the insect has done. The difference 
is 0.05 bale, or 25 pounds of lint per acre each year. At current prices 
this means an annual loss of at least $2.25 per acre which has been 
sustained by the cotton planters of Texas. Assuming that the Texas 
acreage has averaged 10,000,000, the total loss for the State has annu- 
ally been $22,500,000. 
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