66 REPORT UPON COTTON INSECTS. 



Greenville, Hunt County, Texas. The loss in our county was very slight ; * * * 

 few fields were visited, and those in isolated spots, where the plant grew more luxu- 

 riantly ; and only the upper branches, which were tender, were attacked. 



Other examples could be given, but these will suffice. 



GENERAL ESTIMATES OF LOSS. 



Iii the report of the statistician of the Department of Agriculture 

 for 1877, the loss by the cotton-worm was estimated for that year at 

 $15,000,000, much the larger portion in Texas, though the injury was 

 considerable as far east as the cotton belt of Alabama.* Notwithstand- 

 ing this great loss, the year was one of unusual harvest, and with this 

 consideration in view, the figures offer a suggestion as to the fearful 

 amount of damage that must follow in a year of general visitation. 



In the Entomologist's IJeport, in the annual report of the Department 

 of Agriculture for 1873 (p. 164), there appears a general estimate, also 

 furnished by the statistician, which placed the amount of damage at 

 possibly half a million bales, in years of insect prevalence. One-fourth 

 of a million bales he considers a slight infliction, and yet at $100 per 

 bale, the loss would be equal in round numbers to $25,000,000. 



A number of general estimates have been given by local observers in 

 reply to a cotton- worm circular recently sent out by this department, 

 which in the main are not far out of the way. Mr. J. F. Culver, Union 

 Springs, Ala., estimates the loss in Bullock County, at about 5,000 

 bales, which amounts to $250,000 at the rate of $50 per bale. Mr. H. 

 Hawkins, of Hawkinsville, Ala., who lost one-half of his crop in 1873 

 and one-fifth in 1878, makes a rough estimate for Barbour County, in 

 most years of $50,000. For the year 1878, the losses to Pope County, 

 Arkansas, from cotton- worms are given in round numbers by Mr. T. S. 

 Edwards, of Gum Log, at $100,000 ; and a glance at figures in the 

 Ninth Census Report, keeping in view the enormous increase in cot- 

 ton productions in Texas and Arkansas since 18G9, would seein to bear 

 out the statement. 



RATIO OF LOSS BETWEEN EARLY AND LATE CROPS. 



While the date of appearance of the worm has much to do with the 

 amount of damage to a crop an appearance in July, August, or Sep- 

 tember, in parts of Texas, amounting to 75, 50, and 25 per cent, of 

 loss, respectively still upon plantations where the cotton is late in 

 coming to maturity, the greatest losses may be expected, generally 

 speaking ; and any causes that tend to retard the growth of the plants, 

 only serve to increase the percentages of injury. In former years, in 

 the eastern part of Mississippi, there was a certainty of most of the 

 blossoms "making" that came by the 10th of September; now they 

 cannot be .counted upon after August 1. In the center of the cotton 

 belt in Alabama, as a rule, when a good stand has been secured early 



* Annual Report for 1877, p. 156. 



