136 EEPOET UPON COTTON INSECTS. 



if the fields were all of this character some neighboring fields would suffer from the 

 injudicious example of him who planted low, wet lauds. 



Let no wet lands be planted on which the ant cannot live, nor let the highlands be 

 plowed while wet to destroy the ant, and I am persuaded that the cotton crop will 

 never be destroyed by the worm again. The observance of these facts will do more 

 than all the poisons discovered and all the poison-distributers combined to protect 

 the planter in his toil and guarantee him the rewards of his hands. 



And, in conclusion, I will say to those that are skeptical, you have but to go to the 

 field and see for yourself, and you will no longer be doubtful. 



Hoping these suggestions may lead to inquiry, and that some system will be sug- 

 gested that will secure concert of action, even if by legislation, I am, sir, 

 Your obedient servant, 



N. A. DAVIS, 



JACKSONVILLE, TEX., August 16, 1879. 



Almost simultaneously with the letter from Mr. Davis in one extreme 

 of the cotton belt came a communication from Mr. J. C. Brown, of Willet, 

 Barnwell County, South Carolina, the other extreme, expressing almost 

 precisely the same views. Mr. Brown introduced this in his reply to the 

 1878 circular, which he had retained until this time to make further 

 observations. He says : 



The common ant maintains an equilibrium icJten it is not too wet. The ant will 

 destroy the eggs unless the rainy weather keeps it in its retreat. This is the reason 

 that a dry season is never a caterpillar one. 



Upon receiving this we wrote to Mr. Brown for further particulars 

 and received the following reply : 



DEAR SIR : In answer to yours of the 29th instant in relation to cotton-worm and 

 whether the, common ants were destructive to it, would reply that I have observed 

 the ant on the cotton-plant and apparently searching it for prey. During sunny 

 weather they are numerous, every cotton-plant having several crawling over it, and 

 they do destroy the eggs of the cotton-worm, for I have seen them stop as soon as they 

 came across them and eat and carry them away. In wet weather the ant has retreated 

 to its quarters and few can be found anywhere in the cotton field, and the caterpillars 

 have undisturbed opportunity to multiply and increase. 



We have the worm here now in force, and would be greatly damaged, but its first 

 appearance was two weeks too late. And I have noticed that my theory of the ant 

 has had additional substantials for its support, for during four or five sunny days 

 there is a decided increase and activity on the part of the ant and a marked decrease 

 of the same on the part of the worm. 

 Yours, respectfully, 



JAMES C. BROWN. 



WILLET, BARNWELL COUNTY, SOUTH CAROLINA. 



This same idea is again expressed by Mr. Douglass M. Hamilton, of 

 Saint Francisville, La., in his report, in which he says : "Ants of many 

 kinds are found preying on them in good weather, but not in bad, and this 

 is the reason given why the worm increases so much faster in rainy, wet 

 weather than in dry and fair weather." 



Mr. Wm. V. Keary, of North Bend, Cheneyville, Parish of Kapides, 

 Louisiana, December 17, 1877, in writing to J. Curtis Waldo, says : " The 

 cotton caterpillar requires a wet season to accumulate, as such weather 



