34 REPORT UPON COTTON INSECTS. 



foliage.. In Calhonn the crop prospect was reduced 25 per cent, in five- days. In 

 Autauga the roads, woods, and wells were full of army and bell-worms. In Wilcox 

 the caterpillars, after stripping the cotton plant of its leaves, attacked the bolls, eat- 

 ing the smaller ones and killing the larger ones by gnawing around them. In Perry 

 the crop was cut down to half an average after August 20. In Conecuh the destruc- 

 tion was almost complete, as it also was in Russell. All through the cane-brake region 

 the loss was very severe. Butler, Clark, Wilcox, Dallas. Perry, and Tuscaloosa report 

 a loss of one-half; Pike, Bibb, Hale, Calhonn, and Limestone a loss of one-fourth or 

 over. With the exception of 1873, this was, perhaps, as bad a worm year as Alabama 

 ever had. In Florida also the damage was very great. In Suwannee County the 

 caterpillars appeared July 15, and within a month many fields were entirely stripped. 

 Ill Leon they made their appearance August 18, and within ;i week t he last cotton leaf 

 had disappeared. 



The saine report conies from Taylor County. Columbia County suf- 

 fered a loss of 75 per cent, from rust and caterpillars combined. Leon 

 County lost two thirds of the crop ; Orange, Jackson, Jefferson, Suwan- 

 nee lost one-half, and Clay one-third. The Madison County correspond- 

 ent, on the other hand, reported "not much loss." The caterpillars 

 were destructive in almost every part of Georgia, although their ravages 

 Avere far less than in the neighboring States of Alabama and Florida. 

 "Calhoun and Heard lost half the crop; Lee, Marion, and Columbia one- 

 third; Decatur, Baldwin, and Coweta from one-fifth to one-third; Ber- 

 rien, Worth, Clay, Dooly, Sumter, Schley, Chattahoochee, Muscogee, 

 Upson, Wilkinson, Putnam, Glascock, Greene, Spalding, Floyd, and 

 Chattooga, all were afflicted in a lesser degree. In South Carolina the 

 caterpillars were very destructive in Richland County. In Orangeburgh 

 they appeared in great numbers, but were rather late. In North Caro- 

 lina they were widespread, and were reported from six of the cotton- 

 growing counties of that State. So ends 1872, which we think can fairly 

 l)e placed among the six great cotton- worm years, 1804, 182o, 1846, 1868, 

 1872, 1873. 



From the time of the first appearance of the chenille down to the* 

 .present date, it is doubtful if 1873 was ever equaled as a year of general 

 caterpillar ravages. From Atascosa and Medina Counties in Texas, to 

 Prince George and Princess Anne in Virginia, through every portion of 

 the cotton-growing region, these pests were to be found in destructive 

 numbers, and few localities escaped serious injury. As was to be ex- 

 pected from their prevalence in 1872 the hibernation was extensive and 

 caterpillars were reported remarkably early in the spring of 1873. They 

 were seen on May 30 along the Flint River in Decatur County, Georgia. 

 Just over the State line, in Jackson and Gadsden Counties, Florida, they 

 were observed about the same time. They had also' made their appear- 

 ance in Marion County, Mississippi, and also in Barbour County, Ala- 

 bama. 



Early in .June they were reported from Atascosa County, Texas, a> 

 sweeping the third planting of cotton, the first two having already been 

 destroyed by grasshoppers. They had also made their appearance in 

 Victoria County, Texas. Before July 12 they had been reported from 



