THE BOLL-WEEVIL 7 



notice of it, but he surely seemed to take notice of 

 the boll-weevil. 



Mr. Corn was talking to Miss Cowpea about it 

 one day, and said, "Miss Cowpea, have you noticed 

 King Cotton lately?" 



"Yes, I have, and he seems terribly nervous 

 about something/' Miss Cowpea replied. 



"Do you know what ails him?" Mr. Corn 

 asked. 



"No, what is it, do you know?" Miss Cowpea 

 asked. 



"Why, that boll-weevil has him frightened almost 

 into a fit," Mr. Corn said. 



"Is that boll-weevil as bad as all that?" Miss 

 Cowpea asked. 



Mr. Corn explained: "He is a bad one, let me 

 tell you. Those boll-weevils are the smartest 

 beetles that ever visited a cotton-patch. They 

 work so differently from other insects that have 

 attacked cotton heretofore. They do not eat the 

 foliage as the cotton leaf-worm or the grasshoppers 

 do. They do not display themselves on the plants 

 as the 'fool' leaf-worms do, but they stay behind 

 the little leaves you see around every square and 

 boll." 



"How do they feed?" asked Miss Cowpea. 



"You know that they have beaks that remind 

 you of little elephants' trunks. At the ends of 



