8 PROCEEDINGS OF THE BOLL WEEVIL CONVENTION. 



planter first saw that same little insect that had bored in the stalk, they 

 thought that it laid eggs in the stalk and that it was a kind of tree insect. 

 The Government sent Dr. W. D. Hunter down to investigate, and he 

 found that it was a false alarm, and that this false alarm on account of 

 the tree insect was creating considerable trouble. 



"One idea I want to impress on you is that all the breadstuffs, meat and 

 other products, of the United States do not equal a single export cotton 

 crop. Therefore, the interest that the United States general Government: 

 has taken in the matter is not only reasonable, but necessary. 



'On his recent visit to the boll weevil region of my State, Secretary 

 Wilson assured us that the 



DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE WOULD CO-OPERATE 



with us. Just what form that co-operation will take I am unable to say, 

 for we have been as yet unable to fix upon a definite plan of co-operation. 

 It is from such a meeting as this that the people conclude what it is the\ 

 want; and we have found in Texas before this that the United States 

 Government is willing to meet us half way. I have no doubt that this 

 experience will be repeated here. 



"Let me call your attention briefly to some questions in reference to the 

 life of the weevil. First, in what kind of land does he thrive most? In 

 what kind of land does he create the greatest devastation? Living, as it 

 does, in timber, trash and foul lands, those cotton lands near the timber 

 are most injuriously affected. Since it is an insect that depends upon 

 moisture during the summer season, those counties that receive the most 

 rain are most injuriously affected. Since moisture is absolutely necessary 

 we find that there is a difference in soils with the same annual rainfall, 

 between the naturally dry and naturally wet sorts. Take our dry, hard 

 prairie soil; the weevil does not multiply nearly so rapidly as it does in 

 the alluvial land. It is a fact that has been frequently demonstrated by 

 the thousands of observations in Texas. Whether or not you will find 

 other conditions that will limit the weevil to Texas I am not able to say. 

 We are inclined to assume that the northward march and spread of the 

 weevil is much slower than the eastward spread. But this has very little 

 consolation for Louisiana. 



"During the present year the weevil has advanced more than twenty- 

 five miles to the north. During that time he has reached more than two 

 hundred miles to the eastward, and he has it will go as far to the north, 

 into Oklahoma and Arkansas, we cannot tell; but reached as far to the 

 westward. Whether these are interesting facts with reference to the 



SPREAD OF THE INSECT. 



"How it comes into Texas nobody seems to know. The furtherest 

 south cotton crop in Texas was 250 miles from the nearest Mexican cot- 

 ton, across burning sand and desolate wastes. Whether a cyclone beat 



