PREFACE. 



Since the Civil War no factor has been as instrumental in altering 

 agricultural conditions in the South as the advent of the boll weevil. 



While it is of the greatest importance that every effort still be put 

 forth to secure remedies and especially to secure control of the weevil 

 by natural factors and to encourage natural enemies and paras tes of 

 the weevil by continued entomological work, it is not, at the same time, 

 amiss to consider other factors — fully as important as these — which will 

 enter into the final solution of the problem. 



The South is favored with a natural monopoly on the world's 

 greatest staple, and this monopoly the Southern farmer must maintain 

 despite the weevil. 



That this can be done is already being demonstrated by many a 

 progressive farmer in Texas and Louisiana who, by diligent study and 

 observation,* has learned the scientific principles upon which agricul- 

 tural work must be conducted to bring the highest returns, and who 

 has learned how to apply these principles on his own farm by fertiliz- 

 ing intelligently, cultivating according to the needs of his crops and by 

 diversifying in such a manner as to make each crop not only yield a 

 profit, but also contribute, directly or indirectly, to the fertility of his 

 lands and to the bounty of succeeding crops. 



To continue producing cotton profitably despite the weevil will 

 require soils kept in the best of physical condition and containing an 

 ample supply of plant food. The fertility of Louisiana soils cannot be 

 conserved indefinitely without live stock being produced in greater 

 abundance than at present. To the profitable production of beef and 

 dairy cattle, the Texas fever, cattle tick stands as the greatest obstacle. 

 With this arch enemy of both the cattle raiser and cotton grower exter- 

 minated, no finer stock raising country in the world can be found than 

 in Louisiana. The futui'e successful curure of cotton depends directly 

 upon the eradication of the cattle tick. 



The importance of the tick eradication movement, now obtaining 

 such promising headway in the Southern States, is convincingly shown 

 in the subjoined article by Mr. August Mayer, the well-known cattle 

 raiser of Shreveport. La. Mr. Mayer has kindly accorded us permis- 

 sion to publish his article, and we believe every cotton planter, every 

 manufacturer, every consumer of cotton goods and everyone interested 

 even remotely in the success of Southern agriculture, can read Mr. 

 Mayer's article with both interest and profit. 



WILMON NEWELL, Secretary. 

 State Crop Pest Commission of Louisiana. 



Baton Rouge, La., June 20, 1907. 



