LTOns:. 71 



CHAPTER XI. 



INSECTS BENEFICIAL AND INJURIOUS TO THE COTTON 

 PLANT, 



The following account of the insects frequenting 

 the cotton plant, is from the Report of Townsend 

 Glover, a practical entomologist, sent out by the 

 United States Government for the purpose of study- 

 ing their habits and nature. Mr. Glover spent several 

 years in Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and 

 Louisiana, devoting his whole time to the subject. 



INSECTS FREQUENTING THE COTTON PLANT, 



The cotton plant furnishes food for numerous 

 insects, some of which feed exclusively on the leaf, 

 some on the flower, while others destroy the young 

 buds and bolls. It is my purpose to describe these 

 insects, not in the order of their classification by 

 natural families, but according to the part of the 

 plant to which their ravages are chiefly confined, 

 Thus, by referring to the parts injured, one can easily 

 recognize the insect, or its larva. Many of these 

 insects at first appear in small numbers, and only do 

 much injury in their second and third generations. 

 For instance, a female boll-worm will produce five 

 hundred eggs; when hatched, one-half females, 'the 

 other half males. The next generation, if the increase 

 be in the same ratio, will be 125,000 caterpillars or 

 moths and this accomplished in the space of three 

 or four weeks. It will, therefore, be perceived that 

 their destruction depends upon prompt and timely 

 action. Planters may materially aid in the work 

 designed for their mutual benefit, by minutely observ- 



