];5 



(6) The season of 1904 was exceeding-l}^ favorable during- tlie time 

 of picking- the crop, resulting in an unusuall}' small loss of lint from 

 rains. 



(7) The larg-e amount of work done b}^ the Department of Agricul- 

 ture and commercial bodies which imported many carloads of improved 

 seed doubtless contributed to the large crop produced. 



A general idea of the effect of the ravages of the boll weevil in 

 reducing the crop in Texas ma}" be obtained from the following ta,ble: 



Comparison of coUon acreage and production in Texas <utd Louisiana, in equivaleids of 



. 500-pound bales. 



It will be seen that while the acreage in Texas and Louisiana has 

 ])een increasing at about the same proportion, the crop in Texas has 

 decreased annually for the past six years (with two exceptions — 1900 

 and the present year), while the crop in Louisiana has increased annu- 

 ally (with one inconsiderable exception — in 1903). That the boll weevil 

 is the cause that has prevented Texas from keeping- pace with Louis- 

 iana will be admitted by all. The exceptional j^ears, 1900 and 1904, 

 in which the production in Texas did not decrease, were undoubtedly 

 those in which the conditions for the cotton plant were unusuall}" 

 favorable. Moreover, it is to be noted that in the first of these two 

 years the pest had not reached far into the most productive counties. 



A VARIETY TEST. 



In order to test the suitabilit}" of a number of varieties of cotton for 

 planting- in weevil-infested regions, during 1904 the Bureau of Ento- 

 mology planted the seed of 20 of the more or less well-known varieties 

 at Calvert, Tex. Each variety was represented b}" a plat 5 acre-s in 

 extent. The soil was uniform throughout the acreage covered by this 

 experiment. The test was a severe one on account of unusually 

 unfavorable local conditions. The crop was made several weeks late 

 by successive frosts early in the season. By a comparison with the 

 results of the variet}- test conducted during the season of 1903, w^ich 



216 



