430 REPORT UPON COTTON INSECTS. 



The low wet places, where the plant is most luxuriant, are first attacked. The rich 

 slough lands are generally much injured before the thinner and dry uplands. [H. A. 

 Stolen werck, Perry. 



None that 1 have discovered. [James M. Harrington, Monroe. 



The richer the land and the ranker the cotton the greater the ravages of the worm. 

 [D. Lee, Lowndes. 



As to local topographical features' influences, will say that the worm is first reported 

 in this State in the lime-belt or prairie lands in and around Montgomery Conn*y, where 

 the lands are level, while in this county the greater part of our lands are undulating 

 and hilly. The present year the worms have destroyed all the cotton-leaves in Beat 

 No. 3, which is adjoining this, No. 11, where they have only honey-combed it up to this 

 time. Beat No. 11 is due east of No. 3. During the years 1867, '68, '69, the worm failed 

 to attack cotton planted on second-years lands, but have since, equal with old lands. 

 [P. D. Bowles, Conecuh. 



They do, materially, being much less destructive in the hilly or sections interspersed 

 with forests than on the level, opeu prairie. My own plantation is surrounded by forest, 

 except a small space on the northwest. I never have had the w r orm come in force 

 until most of my neighbors' crops have been entirely denuded at least fifteen days 

 later. Sometimes they do me little or no damage, while a few miles distant destroy 

 fullv one- fourth. My plantation is mostly level, about one-half prairie slough land. 

 [M.'W. Hand, Greene. 



Stiff, post-oak land. [Knox, Minge, and Evans, Hale. 



They do ; but I am unable to define the features in a locality most favorable for their 

 ravages. [C. M. Howard, Autanga. 



They are more destructive in the black prairie lands than in the pine lands. [A. D. 

 Edwards, Macon. 



Local features and nothing else determine the ravages of the worm. Low, damp 

 spots, in different parts of the same field, are attacked at the same time, while other 

 portions are left unmolested until the general crop of caterpillars make their appear- 

 ance the third crop or generation and when, in a few days after the hatching of this 

 crop, not a leaf is to be seen in the whole field. [H. Hawkins, Barbour. 



I think this may be said of local influences : A field entirely surrounded by woods 

 is decidedly less subject to the worm than open plantations, and it is to be seen in 

 all such fields, that on their borders the worm refuses to eat up the leaves, unless it be 

 the army worm, as has been alluded to; they take everything before them. Another 

 observation of mine is, that cotton planted among peach-trees, if not entirely pre- 

 served, is by no means entirely destroyed or killed by them. I think the same true as 

 to cotton about or under a persimmon tree, from which I conclude that acids properly 

 used might prevent. [Andrew Jay, Conecuh. 



Ou many or all plantations I know the caterpillar invariably appears in certain spots 

 before it is elsewhere found. These spots are not distinguished by any discoverable 

 (at least to me) cause or harbor for producing the moth or protecting it. [J. W. Du 

 Bose, Montgomery. 



It sometimes occurs that an acre only, or a quarter or a half of a field, remains un- 

 touched by the worms, when in all the balance the leaves are totally destroyed up to 

 the margin of a line. And the cause of this we cannot tell, except it be toughness of 

 the leaves, developed by the peculiarity of the soil ; for the worms prefer the tender 

 leaves in every stage of their existence. [Dr. John Peurifoy, Montgomery. 



ARKANSAS. 



I think not. I can see no difference in rough or smooth or old or new land. The 

 worst piece of ground, or rather cotton, is in old land, and the next in new. [T. S. Ed- 

 wards, Pope. 



Yes. Our field, infested with worms, is separated from another by a narrow strip of 

 timber 150 yards wide, and in the second field there are no worms. While in other 

 fields, where are no obstructions between them, such as cornfields, timber, &c., the 

 worms travel from one field to another, gradually, as they strip the field where they 

 first appear.-[E. T. Dale, Miller. 



FLORIDA. 



In small fields where they are surrounded by dense .woods and where cotton was 

 never planted before it is always much leas affected by the worm for a year or two. 

 New-ground cotton is certainly less affected by the worm. [J. M. McGehee, Santa 

 Rosa. 



We think not. [John B. Carrin, Taylor. 



No. [R. Gamble, Leon. 



GEORGIA. 



If so, I have failed to note it. A patch of cotton shaded by trees and houses clear 

 up to plantation residence is generally first attacked and suffers badly. [William A. 

 Harris, Worth. 



