20 



iiotliing l)iit bainhoo. Keep up your benziiio treatment aud you will kill tlio insects. 

 * * *— [Juiie'jr., 18dl).] 



The Texas Cattle-tick. 



Will you please give mo tlio history of the Texas Cattle-tick (Ixodes hovis) or refer 

 mo to the literature on the subject ? They are a terrible pest here.— [M. Francis, D. 

 V. M., College Station, Texas, June 17, 1881). 



KicPLY. — I beg to acknowleflge the receipt of your letter of the 17th instant, request- 

 ing information concerning the Texas Cattle-tick {Ixodes boins). This species was de- 

 scribed by Professor Eiley iu a special report of this Department (Report of Commis- 

 sioner of Agriculture on Diseases of Cattle in the United States, 1871, p. 118, foot-note). 

 It is a reddish, coriaceous, flattened species, body oblong oval, contracted just behind 

 the middle, aud the whole insect is from one-quarter to one-half an inch in length. 

 It occurs from the Northern States to Nicaragua, and lives not only on cattle but 

 even on the rattlesnake, the iguana, aud on .small mammals. It no doubt attaches itself 

 to almost any animal that brushes against it in going through the grass. The species 

 is mentioned in a treatise on the external parasites of domestic animals, by A. E. 

 Verrill, in the report of the Connecticut Board of Agriculture for 1870, iiage 4G. It is 

 found in our Northern States, but is, however, most abundant in the Southwest, Mis- 

 souri to Texas, and has been taken in large numbers by Mr. J. McNeil on horned 

 cattle on the west coast of Nicaragua. 



As to remedies, the kerosene emulsion has been recommended for lice on cattle in 

 Bulletin 5 of the Iowa Agi-icultural Experimental Station, May, 1889, page IHf). 

 This would uo doubt be the best and most practical remedy for the Cattle-tick also, 

 and is indorsed by Dr. Cooper Curtice, of the Bureau of Animal Industry of this 

 Department, who i-ecommeuds that the emulsion be made with soap according to the 

 formula originally proposed by this Division. The emulsion should be applied in an 

 8 per ceut. solution with a force jinmp, using the Eiley or Cyclone nozzle and a few 

 feet of hose. It thus easily penetrates the hair of the animal, and at that strength 

 cau not injure stock. — [June 24, 1889.] 



The Boll "Worm in Texas. 



I take the liberty to report to you the condition of affairs iu regard to the Boll Worm 

 {HcUothiH armigera) and its yearly destruction of cotton, with the view of asking your 

 opinion and advice for my own aud the public benefit. I live in cue of the northern 

 counties, where cotton is the ^jriucipal crop. We raise what is known as the Moon 

 cotton, one inch aud a quarter staple. This county loses yearly from the ravages of 

 Boll Worms and moth from $;>00,000 to $400,000 on cotton alone, the moth, in my 

 opinion, doing nine-tenths of tho damage. The first crop of the caterpillars appeared 

 in the corn near the 20th of May. On examination the 1st of June four-fifths had left 

 the corn to transform to pup;e, but I found caterpillars up to the 10th of June, though 

 scarce. Iu order to destroy them the planters generally ]iut lamps in tho field iu the 

 month of May, aud expect to continue their use until October. The lamps are similar 

 to those described in tho Agricultural Eeport for 1880, page 239. The field crop of 

 corn is now in silk and tassel. 



Usually from the 1st to the lOtli of August the Boll Wonu moth leaves the corn 

 and adopts the cotton as its home. This brood does immense damage, the moth lay- 

 ing her eggs in the squares in the blooms aud in youug bolls from the size of a gar- 

 den pea to a partridge egg in preference to any other place. She pierces them as if 

 done by a needle or pin, and in a few days they drop from the plant. Some f^irmers, 

 not knowing what insect does this, have given them the name of sharpshooters, 

 aud it is yet a mooted question w'ith us. By the time the cotton puts on a now crop 

 of squares aud blooms the moth is ready for it again, and if the weather is moist and 

 warm it thus keeps on until frost; but should a drought prevail, with hot, drying 



