22 KEPORT UPON COTTON INSECTS. 



that it has suffered more in proportion to its size and the amount of cot- 

 ton grown than any other section of the country. 



The caterpillars were not at all widespread nor were their ravages re- 

 markably severe in 1841, '42, '43, '44, '45. There was about 20 per cent, 

 loss in Madison and Leon Counties, Florida, in 1841 ; elsewhere the 

 worms came too late to do much damage except by depreciating the 

 quality of the cotton by soiling it with their excrement. Great damage 

 was reported from this source in West Feliciaua Parish, Louisiana. In 

 1842, although the worms were reported from parts of Texas, Alabama, 

 Florida, and Georgia, but little injury seems to have been done. The 

 same can be said for 1843, except that in this year the caterpillars were 

 reported from South Carolina, and that the combined damages from 

 caterpillars and storms is reported at 33 per cent, from Leon County, 

 Florida. In 1844, they appeared early in Florida (being found webbed 

 July 13, in Leon County) and along the coast in Matagorda and Brazoria 

 Counties, Texas. The marked feature of the year 1844 was the abun- 

 dance of the caterpillars in certain parishes in Louisiana. East and West 

 Feliciana, East Baton Eouge, Saint Mary's, Saint Laudry, Avoyelles, 

 Kapides, Concordia, Ked Eiver, Jackson, Madison, and Catahoula all 

 lost more or less of the crop. A few short newspaper paragraphs may 

 not come amiss in showing the situation. 



The Saint Landry Whig, of August, 1844, says : 



We arc truly sorry to announce that the cotton crop in this parish is lamentably 

 cut up. The caterpillar is making sad havoc. We learn that many of the planters 

 on Bayou Boauf contemplate abandoning cotton altogether and intend planting sugar- 

 cane. The cotton crop this year in most of that section will not yield half the usual 

 quantity, and all around us a third at least will be lost. We are no alarmists, but 

 speak the words of soberness and of truth, and people at distance may rely on this 

 statement. 



The Eed Kiver Kepublican, of similar date, has the following : 



In our last we mentioned the appearance of the dreaded caterpillar on our cotton 

 fields. We have since received information from the country that puts to rest all 

 doubts. The real insect, so destructive in other years, can be seen on almost every 

 plantation in the parish. Every eifort to arrest the progress of the destroyers has 

 been in vain. They approach the tender plant in myriads and the work of destruc- 

 tion is completed in a short time. 



The Baton Kouge Advertiser of September 11, 1844, says : 



Tin- caterpillar is doing immense destruction on the cotton plantations in this par- 

 ish. Wherever the crop is late, the bolls being tender and new "forms" constanlly 

 emerging, the yield will be more than one-half Us than the anticipated crop. This is 

 the opinion of a highly respectable planter Avith whom we have had conversation on 

 the subject. 



In the Concordia Intelligencer of like date we find the following : 



THE ARMY-WORM. This destructive insect to the hopes of the planter has just made 

 its appearance in terrible quantities throughout the State. A gentleman just from the 

 Opelousas counties informs us that the caterpillar has made its appearance, in that 

 region three weeks since. Within the past six days it has passed over the broad fields 

 of Concordia, leaving them as if a whitening frost had blighted them. One-third o 1 ' 



