8 



Besides showing in general a successful continuation of cotton cul- 

 ture in Victoria County since the weevil reached it, the above table 

 indicates that the crop of the United States at large has varied year by 

 year in much the same way as has the crop of Victoria County, show- 

 ing that climatic conditions affecting the entire cotton belt have been 

 a much more important factor than the weevil in reducing the crop in 

 a series of 3'cars. 



FUTTJEE PROSPECTS. 



The most serious aspect of the situation is in the fact that the pest 

 is constantly spreading and will undoubtedly eventually be distributed 

 all over the cotton belt. There are no influences that can check it short 

 of the limit of its food plant in this country. In Mexico, where the 

 insect has existed as an important enemy of cotton for a much longer 

 period than in the United States, the investigations of the Division of 

 Entomologj^, as well as of the Mexican Government, indicate that the 

 only factor in limiting its distribution is that of altitude. In the 

 famous "Laguna" district in that country, including portions of the 

 States of Coahuila, Chihuahua, and Durango, the weevil has never 

 gained a foothold, notwithstanding the fact that large quantities of 

 seed cotton are annually shipped there for ginning and milling from 

 the lower region, where it is very numerous. That this region, under 

 these circumstances, has never become infested seems onl}^ to be 

 explained by its altitude, which is disastrous to an insect which prob- 

 ably originated in a region of ver}" low elevation. The average eleva- 

 tion of the "Laguna" district is about 3,500 feet above sea level. 

 Unfortunately, in this country there is no land at all adapted to cot- 

 ton culture in the belt as now constituted that approaches such an 

 elevation. 



Basing the estimate on a careful study of the annu-al increase in ter- 

 ritory since the insect reached Texas, as well as upon considerable atten- 

 tion that has beeji paid to the means whereby it reaches new territory, 

 it seems safe to predict that in from fifteen to eighteen 3'cars the pest 

 will be a serious drawback to cotton culture everywhere throughout 

 the South, as it is in Texas now. 



METHODS OF COMBATING. 



It is wholly beyond possibility that the weevil is ever to be exter- 

 minated. Its history in Mexico and since reaching Texas, as well as 

 the history of many related injurious insects, offers no hope that it 

 will ever be much less destructive than now. Nevertheless, it has 

 been demonstrated that cotton can be grown profitably by means of a 

 few expedients in planting and managing the crop where the insect is 

 present. These expedients involve no appreciable extra expense in 

 producing the staple, and accordingly are coming to be generally 



