360 THE FORAGE AND FIBER CROPS IN AMERICA 



should be taken to prevent the introduction of this pest into non-infected 

 districts by means of seeds, hulls and other cotton products, yet the principal 

 means of spreading seem to be the wind and the natural overflow from the 

 infested area. 



455. COTTON-BOLL WORM. This insect, also known as the corn-ear worm, 

 and as the tomato-fruit worm, feeds when young upon the leaves of the cotton, 

 but, as it grows older, feeds upon the bolls and burrows into them, one insect 



Cotton-boll weevil. Mature boll cut open at left, showing full grown larva; at 



right late fall boll showing how beetles hide between the boll and the squares 



(From photo by Howard) 



sometimes destroying many buds, blossoms, and bolls. The insect hibernates 

 in the pupa stage, and feeds upon many wild and cultivated plants, many of 

 which it prefers to cotton. No thoroughly satisfactory method of combating 

 this insect has been devised. The young larvae may be poisoned while they 

 are feeding upon the leaves by the method described for the cotton worm, 

 but this will not destroy the larvae after they have entered the bolls. Since 

 they prefer other crops, and especially maize to cotton, the growing of five 

 rows of maize between every twenty-five rows of cotton has been suggested. 

 The rows of maize are planted at different times so as to bring on a suc- 

 cession of the silking period, and each row or group of rows is to be fed to 

 live stock or otherwise destroyed just before or just after the eggs hatch. 

 (C. A. 355) 



456. COTTON WORM. The larva of this insect resembles in appearance the 

 cotton-boll worm, although generally of a lighter and more greenish color, and 

 like it walks as a measuring worm. This insect, however, differs in habits in 

 three important particulars: (1) so far as known it feeds upon no other 

 plant; (2) it feeds principally upon the leaves of the plant, and never burrows 

 into the bolls; (3) it hibernates in the adult or moth form, and cannot live 

 over winter, except in the extreme southern portion of the cotton belt. If these 

 worms appear north of this section, they occur by reinfection each season. 

 Their spread can be greatly retarded by preventing the growth of any volunteer 



