HISTORY OF RAVAGES, 1-72. 33 



loss that is at all severe were the widely- separated ones of Crenshaw 

 and Bibb, fh each of which the loss amounted to one-half of the crop. 

 The correspondent in Crenshaw remarked upon the regular northeast 

 course which the worms seemed to take. In Florida the correspondents 

 forgot to say anything about the caterpillars, in their dismay at the havoc 

 created by the violent storms which visited that section of the country 

 the latter part of the season. In Gadsden County alone does the cater- 

 pillar seem to have done much damage. In Georgia the caterpillar was 

 an element not to be taken into account in summing up the damage this 

 year. Early in the season, drought, with rust, and later, violent storms 

 completely overshadowed the insects. They were barely mentioned from 

 some half dozen localities, Clay County alone reporting considerable 

 damage from their ravages. They do not seem to have appeared this 

 year in South and Xorth Carolina. 



In 1872 there was a great increase in the loss occasioned by the cater- 

 pillar ravages. Texas did not suffer to any great extent, and the damage 

 was no more severe than in the previous year in Louisiana. Mississippi 

 lost considerably, but the greatest injury was done in Alabama and 

 Florida. In Georgia the loss was much greater than usual, as it was 

 also in South Carolina, and the caterpillars were very abundant in North: 

 Carolina. The presence of the worms early in June was reported from 

 Texas, Louisiana, and Florida. In Texas, Matagorda and Victoria were 

 the first counties to report caterpillars ; in the latter county they were 

 seen as early as June 6, and in the former about the same time. Some 

 damage was done in these counties, as well as in De Witt, Gonzales, 

 Austin, Waller, Liberty, Walker, Polk, Upshur, and Kaufman. In. 

 Fayette they were very troublesome, and in Liberty they were present 

 iii large numbers as early as July. The State as a whole did not, how- 

 ever, suffer at all severely. In Louisiana the caterpillars were reported 

 in June and appeared in force in August. They nearly " finished " the 

 crop in Tangipahoa, and reduced that of Marion to a half average. In 

 Coucordia many fields were entirely stripped of foliage. In Rapides 

 two-thirds of the crop was destroyed, and the caterpillars were reported 

 in injurious numbers in Saint Landry, Washington, Red River, and 

 Jackson. Arkansas reported them this year from one locality alone, 

 Columbia County. In Mississippi the ravages were general. Marion, 

 Clarke, Rankin, Hinds, and Noxubee Counties suffered the most, perhaps, 

 the loss in all amounting to nearly one-half the crop. In other localities 

 the losses varied from almost nothing up to 25 per cent. 



The state of things this year in Alabama was well set forth in the 

 September report of this department, as follows : 



Our August returns from Alabama foreshadowed an extensive visitation of the cot- 

 ton caterpillar, -which, as our September reports show, -was fully and painfully realized. 

 In some places the boll-worm vied with the cotton-worm in its destructive influence. 

 Reports of either or both of these pests come from Macon, Pike, Marengo, Conecuh, 

 Perry, Montgomery, Creushaw, Russell, Fisk. Calhonn, Chambers, Butler, Autanga, 

 Dallas, Wilcox, and Tuscaloosa Counties. In Creushaw the fields -were denuded of 

 3 c I 



