28 EEPOET UPON COTTON INSECTS. 



locality. In 1863 they did considerable damage in Austin County and 

 the surrounding country in Texas. In the latter part of this season 

 they were found as far north as Wayne and Halifax Counties in North 

 Carolina, although the harm that they did was very slight. In 1864 

 they were reported as destructive in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, and in 

 Jefferson County, Mississippi. They reached North Carolina again this 

 year, and were reported from Edgecombe County. Eighteen hundred 

 and sixty-five was a marked year in parts of Texas, in Southern Arkan- 

 sas, and all through Central Alabama. The worms were again seen in 

 Edgecombe County and Halifax County, North Carolina. 



From 1866 to 1877 we are enabled to chronicle the appearances of the 

 caterpillars with much more certainty than in previous years. During 

 this time the Department of Agriculture published regular monthly re- 

 ports, giving, among other things, the condition of the different crops 

 as sent in by regular correspondents till over the country. Information 

 given at the time of the ravages is. of course, more reliable than that 

 called up from the memory after a term of years. Moreover, the answers 

 to the 1878 circular will naturally be more accurate concerning the more 

 recent years. From 1866 to date, the caterpillars have been widespread 

 every year. In some years the ravages have been more severe and gen- 

 eral than in others ; but few localities in any of the more southern por- 

 tions of the belt can boast exemption during any one year. Both the 

 caterpillars and the boll-worm have been infinitely more injurious than 

 in the time before the war. This is thought, as before stated, to proceed 

 almost entirely from the general looseness and carelessness of the pres- 

 ent system of cultivation. Of course there are many exceptions, but as 

 long as the careless are in the majority the innocent must suffer with the 

 guilty. 



In the spring of 1866 there was a large planting, and many hopes were 

 entertained for the success of the crop. A full crop was needed. The 

 war had impoverished the South, and cotton had risen greatly in value. 

 The hopes, however, of many were destined not to be fulfilled. The 

 caterpillars made their appearance in immense numbers in most of the 

 States, and in many localities destroyed the whole crop. Louisiania 

 lost one-half of her whole crop. Texas lost 40 per cent. ; Alabama lost 

 42 per cent. ; and Mississippi lost 30 per cent. These figures are simply 

 general averages, for while in one county everything would be devoured, 

 in another the loss would be small. Texas suffered severely all through 

 her cotton-growing region. Goliad County reported almost total loss- 

 In Austin County the cotton was damaged worse than it ever had been 

 before. In Polk County they " devoured everything." In Lamar County 

 (the northernmost county of the State) they made their first and last 

 appearance. They never had been seen there before; they never have 

 been seen there since. In Tensas Parish, Louisiana, the "entire crop of 

 the county was stripped." They were very destructive in South Arkan- 

 sas, and across the river in the richest cotton counties of Mississippi. 



