INSECTS AND PLANTS 43 



Agriculture had advised the Government of Texas to 

 prohibit the cultivation of cotton, for the time being, along 

 a belt coincident with its southern border, in order to pre- 

 vent the advance of the invader. No notice was taken of 

 this sage advice, with the result that the weevil spread 

 northward and eastward, till it reached the margin of a 

 rich cotton-growing district. The next two years saw the 

 advancing tide stemmed somewhat by unfavourable climatic 

 conditions; but the season of 1898 was very favourable to 

 the insect, and the richest cot ton -growing lands in the 

 United States began to be invaded. As a result, a state 

 entomologist was appointed, and a grant voted towards the 

 control of the cotton-boll weevil. All efforts to prevent 

 the insect gaining a firm footing in the American cotton- 

 fields appeared unavailing, and in 1903 the weevils entered 

 Louisiana. At last, a general realisation of the enormous 

 damage done by this minute insect led to the commence- 

 ment of energetic work ; with a view to its control, 8250,000 

 were voted, to enable the Secretary for Agriculture to meet 

 the emergency caused by its ravages. In 1904 the insect 

 became still more extensively dispersed in Texas and 

 Louisiana. In 1905 observations were limited, owing to re- 

 strictions on travel imposed by the yellow-fever quarantine ; 

 but in the following year the area of infestation had reached 

 to Oklahoma and Arkansas, and almost to the Mississippi 

 river in Louisiana. The year 1907 marked the crossing of 

 the Mississippi river into the state of Mississippi ; the two 

 following years saw a further spread of the weevil ; but in 

 the winter of 1909-10 it received a check, owing to the 

 severity of the weather, and, although 1911 began with 

 a low infestation, the lost ground was made up in Texas 

 and Oklahoma, whilst remarkable gains were witnessed 

 in Arkansas, Mississippi and Alabama, and Florida was 

 invaded. In short, the Mexican cotton-boll weevil has 

 conquered almost the entire cotton-growing section of the 

 United States. " And there it stands to-day, now advanc- 



