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exterminating this pest was the one proposed by Mr. O. T. Cook, of the United 

 States Department of Agriculture, who introduced an ant that he found in 

 Guatemala, which he stated devoured the local boll weevi!, but though 4,000 

 were brought over, there is no record of them ever having fulfilled their 

 mission ; and the people, reasonably afraid of a new pest in the ant ; made 

 objections, which stopped further consignments being sent. 



At the Dallas Experiment Station there is a trained staff of entomologists, 

 and thousands of living boll weevils are under observation in the breeding 

 cages, and some very fine reports have been issued on the work. 



AVe stopped at Baton Rouge, where there is the Louisiana State Uni- 

 versity and Agricultural College, and a second branch, called the Pests 

 rop Commission of Louisiana. The latter is under the care of Mr. Newell, 

 who is well known on account of his experimental work with cattle ticks ; 

 he also dea's with all kinds of pests and diseases of crops, gardens, and 

 orchards His laboratories are very well fitted with all the latest improve- 

 ments and appliances. From the study of the life history of the larval 

 ticks, it has been found out how long they can exist without food after 

 hatching from the eggs. He contends that if all stock is kept out of a 

 paddock over that time, the tick infestation dies out, and that by gradually 

 extending this clean area, a whole district can, with these precautions, 

 eventually be freed from ticks. He rather discountenances any smearing or 

 dipping of cattle and stock to kill the ticks upon them, because if this was 

 universal they would rot carry out his methods. With a combination of 

 both methods I think he would have much more chance of success, for a 

 straying beast getting into a clean area would destroy the. whole year's 

 work. He had a number of different animals housed round the station 

 artificially infested with different species of ticks. He says : " The investi- 

 gations which various entomologists have made of the life history of the 

 cattle tick, show that its complete and total annihilation in the United 

 States is not only a possibility but an assured fact, when the farmers and 

 cattlemen understand that this can be accomplished, and when they set to 

 work in steady co-operation with each other and the proper State officials, 

 to remove the cursed parasite from the South." 



Here we made some observations on the increase of a small black ant 

 (Iridomyrmex kumilis), introduced, it is believed, from Buenos Ayres, with 

 specimens exhibited at the St. Louis Exhibition. It bids fair to be a very 

 serious house pest, and is swarming all over the town. Considering that we 

 had suggestions made to some of our landholders a few years ago to intro- 

 duce an African ant to kill out the rabbits, it is interesting to note this fact 

 to show how easily an ant may become a plague. 



From Baton Rouge we went on to Shrieveport, where Dr. Howard has 

 -some officers at work on boll weevil experiments, and going on from here 

 we came into the well-defined weevil-infested country, after crossing the 

 Mississippi From Shrieveport we went on to Dallas, and now were in 

 Texas, and on some poor country saw some fields of what is locally called 

 " Bumble bee cotton," that is, cotton plants that are so stunted that a 

 bumble bee resting on his hind legs can suck the honey out of the flowers. 

 The Texas State Fair was being held at Dallas, and on the Sunday I went 

 through the stock exhibits with Professor Hunter. Everything was just as 

 busy as on a week-day. Cattle were well represented, and the typical " red 

 hog " was the favourite breed of pipr, though there were a few exhibits of 

 Berkshires. There was only one small lot of sheep, as sheep are not run on 

 this part of Texas. 



