68 TENTH BIENNIAL REPORT 



annually. The fact that the insect has now turned up in two isolated 

 localities is of much interest to us, as it is clear evidence that some 

 other means of spreading has been made use of. Without any doubt 

 it has gone into Delta County and Payette County in connection with 

 some kind of merchandise or in connection with the traveling of per- 

 sons who might readily carry the beetles in baggage or household 

 goods or in hay taken along by immigrants. 



It is because of the danger of carrying the weevils out of the 

 state that Montana and other states have established quarantines and 

 are attempting to reduce so far as practicable the danger of introduc- 

 ing the pest. It is now all the more evident that the position taken 

 by ^lontana some years ago was warranted, since it is now known that 

 the insect has made at least two jumps. 



Damage the Weevil Might Do in Montana 



The alfalfa Aveevil has abundantly shown its capability of de- 

 struction in Utah. During the earlier years of Utah's experience it 

 was estimated that the alfalfa acreage had been reduced by about one- 

 third in the locality where the weevil had been present long enough 

 to bcome very abundant. Year by year this territory has become 

 enlarged and the losses have been enormous. To be sure, with 

 \'igilance and much expense, alfalfa can be grown in spite of the 

 insect but the difficulties are so great that its presence has been a 

 serious drawback to the territory affected. 



To slacken our vigilance here in Montana is simply unthinkable. 

 Were this pest to become established in the alfalfa growing regions of 

 the state the losses year after year, and the set back to all agriculture, 

 because of the peculiar position which this alfalfa plant occupies in 

 the crop system and general agricultural economy, would be a serious 

 blow to the state. 



In the figure shown herewith the shaded counties are reported by 

 the Bureau of Entomology to have the alfalfa weevil present. Note 

 that this insect has appeared in two isolated localities — that is, in these 

 instances, it has made jumps past uninfested territorj^ and there is 

 danger that it may appear in ^lontana in the same manner. 



