54 PROCEEDINGS OF THE BOLL WEEVIL CONVENTION. 



world with ttie products of cotton seed, viz: cotton, cotton seed oil and 

 oil cake. In the furtherance of this crusade the assistance of the cotton 

 seed oil mills in repelling the boll weevil must be conspicuously to the 

 front." 



Mr. Wm. E. Glassel, of Caddo. Mr. President, I would like to say that 

 since the boll weevil discussion came up, I wrote to every oil mill, begging 

 them not to bring in any infected seed from the State of Texas. Every 

 oil mill man in the State responded, that they would not bring in any 

 seed infected. Some of the merchants hesitated to make that promise. 

 Since that time, however, I want to say that every wholesaler and every 

 retailer has signed an agreement not to bring in anything from the State 

 of Texas, where the boll weevil exists. 



The President. That simply goes to show the patriotic action of the 

 merchants as well as the oil mill people of Shreveport. 



The President. Providence, in its way, has provided a remedy that, 

 to some extent at least, destroys all insect enemies to plants. I have been 

 reliably informed that until the destruction, the almost wholesale de- 

 sruction, of the prairie hen on the prairies of Southwest Texas, the boll 

 weevil was not known. Birds, in their way, destroy a great many insects. 

 I have been told, at the Dallas Convention, that one gentleman, a scien- 

 tist, from Texas, made the statement that the daily ration of a partridge 

 was about one hundred and twenty-five v/eevils. Therefore, it is with 

 great pleasure that I introduce the next speaker, Mr. Frank M. Muller, 

 president of the Audubon Society of New Orleans, who will discuss the 

 subject of "Birds in Relation to the Boll Weevil." 



Mr. Muller appeared to be absent just at this moment. The President 

 inquired whether any other gentleman present would speak upon the 

 subject assigned Mr. Stubbs. Thereupon, Mr. F. L. Maxwell, of Mad- 

 ison, suggested that if there were present any practical farmer who had 

 had occasion to be in a boll weevil district, or to have had any exper- 

 ience with that insect, the Convention would be glad to hear from him 

 Then some one called for Mr. B. W. Marston, of Red River Parish. Mr. 

 Marston ascended the platform, and spoke as follows: 



Mr. Chairman: I feel that I can tell you what I don't know better 

 than what I do know about the boll weevil. It was my fortune, about 

 two years ago, to be in Southern Texas, and I visited one of those boll 

 weevil farms. I had seen the destruction of the caterpillar, and I had 

 had something to do with destroying them; but when I went into that 

 field in Texas, and saw the destruction there, I was appalled. I had 

 never seen anything to equal it, in any of the cotton ravages of the cater- 

 pillar. When I state that there was not a single solitary boll or form left 

 in that field, that was not infected, or destroyed, I do not overstate the 

 matter at all. 



Notwithstanding that, gentlemen, though I do not like to say it before 



