13 



Lee, and Burleson counties became invaded, and some isolated colo- 

 nies were found across the Brazos River, in Waller and Brazos coun- 

 ties. Investigations by the Division of Entomology were continued, 

 and a summary of the work, dealing especially with experiments 

 conducted by Mr. C. L. Marlatt in the spring of 189G, was ijublished 

 in still another circular. At this time the legislature of the State of 

 Texas made provision for the appointment of a State entomologist 

 and provided a limited appropriation for an investigation of means 

 of combating the boll weevil. In view of this fact the Division of 

 Entomology discontinued, temporarily, the work that had been carried 

 on by having agents in the field almost constantly for four years, and 

 all correspondence was referred to the State entomologist; but, 

 unfortunately, tlie insect continued to spread, and it soon became 

 apparent that other States than Texas were threatened. This caused 

 the work to be taken up anew by the Division of Entomology in 

 1901, in accordance with a special appropriation by Congress for an 

 investigation independent of that being carried on by the State of 

 Texas and with special reference to the discovery, if possible, of 

 means of preventing the insect from spreading into adjoining States. 

 In accordance with this provision an agent was sent to Texas in 

 March and remained in that State until December. He carried on 

 cooperative work upon eight of the larger plantations in the weevil 

 region. The result of his observations was to suggest the advisability 

 of a considerable enlargement of the scope of the work. It had been 

 found that simple cooperative work with the planters was exceedingly 

 unsatisfactory. The need of a means of testing the recommendations 

 of the Division of Entomology upon a large scale, and thereby furnish- 

 ing actual demonstrations to the planters, became apparent. Conse- 

 quently, at the suggestion of the Department of Agriculture, i^rovision 

 for an enlargement of the work was made by Congress. Agreements 

 were entered into with two large planters in typical situations for test- 

 ing the principal features of the cultural system of controlling the 

 pest upon a large scale. In this way 125 acres at Victoria and 200 

 acres at Calvert were employed. At the same time the headquarters 

 and laboratory of the special investigation were established at Vic- 

 toria, and such matters as parasites, the possi'bility of poisoning the 

 pest or of destroying it by the use of machines, as well as investigat- 

 ing many of the features of its biolog}^ that were still absolutely 

 unknown, were given careful attention by a specially trained assistant 

 whose services were procured for that purpose. The results of the 

 field work for this year were published in the form of a Farmers' 

 Bulletin entitled "Methods of Controlling the Boll Weevil; Advice 

 Based on the Work of 1902;" but on account of the late date of the 

 establishment of the laboratory (June), and the consequent incom- 

 pleteness of many of the records, it was not thought advisable to 

 publish anything concerning the laboratory investigations. During 



