THE BOLL-WORM. 



CHAPTEE I. 



IMPORTANCE OF THE SUBJECT. 



Scarcely inferior to the cotton-worm in the extent of its injuries to the 

 cotton crop is the so-called "boll- worm" (Heliothis armigera, Hiibn.). 

 Every year, and, it is almost safe to say, in every plantation in the 

 whole cotton-belt this pest makes its appearance, and, although its rav- 

 ages during some years are insignificant beside those of the cotton-worm, 

 yet the periodical appearances of the latter, the confining of its hiber- 

 nating area to the more southern portions of the cotton -belt, and its 

 numerous parasites, all combine to render its superiority to the boll- 

 worm as a cotton enemy very slight. There are, moreover, difficulties 

 in the way of destroying the boll-worm difficulties arising from its 

 peculiar methods of work, and from the great number of its food plants 

 which do not exist in the case of the cotton-caterpillar, and which help 

 to render the former as formidable as the latter. Indeed, in a large 

 part of the cotton-belt there can be no doubt but that the boll-worm is 

 the one by far the more to be feared. This is especially true in those 

 more northern portions, which the cotton-worm reaches only late in the 

 season; too late, generally, to do more than clear away the too abundant 

 foliage, and allow the sun to ripen the bolls more quickly. Even in 

 many parts of the more southern regions we find planters expressing 

 the opinion that the boll-worm is the more to be dreaded of the two. 



In Dallas County, Alabama, many planters seemed to believe that 

 the boll- worm does more injury than the army worm, and they there 

 think that there is no way of protecting the cotton from its ravages, 

 working, as it does, within the bolls where poisons will not reach it. 

 Mr. Schwarz, writing from Hearne, Eobertson County, Texas, says: 

 "The fields here are more injured by Heliothis than by Aletia." 



An idea 'of the estimation in which this pest is held throughout the 

 cotton-belt may be gained from a perusal of the following extracts from 

 our correspondence : 



There is one other insect that has destroyed more cotton in this locality within the 

 last four years than all other insects combined. It is known here as the boll-worm. The 

 moth is larger and darker than the cotton-moth and deposits its eggs by piercing the 

 form or square at the base of the bud. The egg hatches in a few days, and the worm 

 devours the young boll before it fairly blooms. Then it crawls Tipon the limb to an- 

 other boll, bores in and eats out the contents, then to another, and so on until all (or 

 nearly so) that are upon the stalk are destroyed. The habit of the moth is nearly that 

 of the cotton-moth, but the worm does not resemble the cotton-worm in any respect. 



US! 



