HISTORY OF RAVAGES, 18C9.. 31 



a loss of one-third, a remarkable loss for this State. Considerable damage 

 was also done in Abbeville and Spartansburg districts. In North Caro- 

 lina the caterpillars appeared September 1, earlier than ever before. 

 They ate many leaves, but little damage was accomplished. One of our 

 correspondents states that they came just at the right time to clear the 

 leaves away from the ripening bolls. 



Thus we see that 1868 is the culminating point of a long series of 

 years in which the ravages of the caterpillars have been gradually grow- 

 ing more severe, and now, in 1869, comes the sudden fall ; 1869 proved 

 to be a remarkably dry year, and cotton suffered more from drought 

 than from any other cause. This at once brought Aletia under the power 

 of its insect enemies, and when the statistician of this department glanced 

 over the field in his monthly report for December, 1869, he stated : " The 

 caterpillar and boll-worm committed depredations in some sections, de- 

 stroying here and there the crop of a county, but their ravages were by 

 no means general." The points of injury this year were very scattered, 

 and were due, for the most part, to local causes. Two of the counties 

 in the southern part of the Texas cotton -growing region, Matagorda and 

 Goliad, suffered very severely ; but farther north, the crops were by no 

 means greatly injured. Off to the west, the caterpillars made their ap- 

 pearance in one field in Blanco County for the first time in its cotton- 

 growing history. In Polk County the crop was partially destroyed, but 

 in surrounding counties the damage was slight. In Louisiana the worms 

 were to be found all over the State, but not a single parish reports any 

 loss worthy of note. In Mississippi, also, the loss was. comparatively 

 insignificant. In Alabama more damage was done. A few counties, 

 which reported small losses the year before, were more severely afflicted 

 this year. In Wilcoxthe wormswere very bad; Macon reported greatdarn- 

 age ; in Dallas 20 per cent, of the crop was lost, and in Greene 30 per 

 cent. With these few exceptions, the injury was slight. From a com- 

 paratively limited region in Northern Florida extremely varied accounts 

 are given of the ravages this year. In Leon County the worms appeared 

 early, one-fourth of the crop was destroyed and much greater loss antici- 

 pated, when they suddenly and unaccountably disappeared. Bradford 

 County reported the damage as severe, and Putnam lost 50 per cent, of 

 the crop. Santa Eosa, Jackson, and Duval, on the other hand, report 

 the caterpillars as not very injurious. Southern Georgia and the coast 

 counties of that State were badly invaded, while the remainder of the 

 State reported slight injuries. In Brooks County the caterpillars did 

 considerable damage ; Glynn lost three-tenths of the crop, and Liberty 

 from one-third to one-half.. The crop in South Carolina does not seem 

 to have been at all damaged this year. In Wayne County, North Caro- 

 lina, the third brood of caterpillars came in August, the earliest date on 

 record for that State, and did some little damage. 



We should naturally expect an increase in the ravages of the worms 

 again in 1870, but the same causes which reduced their numbers so 



