8 THE BOLL WEEVIL PROBLEM. 
is 0.06 bale, or 80 pounds of lint per acre each year. At prices 
current through the period this means an annual loss, without con- 
sidering the value of the seed, of at least $2.70 per acre which has 
been sustained by the cotton planters of Texas. Assuming that the 
area planted in cotton in Texas has averaged 10,000,000 acres, the 
annual loss for the State for the period from 1902 to 1911 has been 
$27,000,000. 
Another tangible indication of the manner in which the weevil has 
affected cotton production is revealed by a comparison of statistics 
from Louisiana and Texas. From 1899 to 1904 the acreage in Texas 
and Louisiana increased at about the same proportion, but the crop 
in Texas decreased at the same time that the crop of Louisiana was 
increasing. There is an exception to this statement in the years 1900 
and 1904, in which the production in Texas did not decrease, but these 
years were exceptionally unfavorable for the weevil and at the same 
time very favorable for the general growth of the cotton. In 1907 
the yield per acre in Texas (0.24 bale) was the smallest in her history. 
This followed a winter so mild that more than the usual number of 
weevils overwintered. 
Undoubtedly for several years the boll weevil has caused a loss 
of about 400,000 bales of cotton annually. Although farmers in 
older regions, in many cases, are increasing their production, there 
is loss in the newly infested regions which offsets that gain. <A. con- 
servative estimate shows that since the weevil has invaded this coun- 
try it has caused a loss of 2,550,000 bales of cotton, at a value of about 
$125,000,000. 
PROSPECTS. 
Reference has been made to the greater damage inflicted in moist 
regions and where the shelter for hibernation is best. The records 
of the Weather Bureau show that the annual precipitation increases 
very rapidly from the West to the East in the cotton belt. This is 
especially the case during the early growing season of cotton, namely, 
April, May, and June. The precipitation in the greater part of the 
cotton-producing area in Texas is normally about 40 inches. In 
Louisiana, Mississippi, and the eastern States of the cotton belt it is 
more than 50 inches, and sometimes exceeds 60 inches. The records 
that have been kept in Texas show that the damage has always been 
greater in wet seasons and that the insect has affected land values 
most where the general conditions approach those of the eastern part 
of the cotton belt. Without the assistance that is furnished by 
climatic conditions, especially dry weather during the spring, the 
farmers of Texas would not have been by any means so successful in 
producing cotton during the last few years as they have. The system 
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