484 EEPORT UPON COTTOX INSECTS. 



OTHER INSECTS. 



ALABAMA. 



From 1825 to 1832 the cotton crop was cut off very much by an infection called 

 " the rot." The bolls which were not matured became diseased and sour and were 

 quite offensive. The cause was unknown. Since 1832 and 1833 there has been very 

 little complaint of that infection. From 1835 to 1853 or 1854, the lice were a pest to 

 the young plants in May and June. They were the worst on light lands. If the plants 

 were thin the lice would badly injure the stand. There were no known means of de- 

 stroying them. The best plan was to let the grass grow with the cotton in the drill 

 until hot weather, when they would soon disappear. The boll-worm has, I doubt not, 

 destroyed more cotton in Alabama than the Aletia argillaccci. It is the offspring of 

 a moth. There are three kinds. The most numerous is of a dirty, yellowish color, and 

 has an owl-shaped head. It deposits its egg or eggs on the upper buds of the plants. 

 The larvae are very small at first. They commence in the small forms first and bite them 

 a little. The sign is not larger than the dot of an i in small type ; but it will destroy 

 the form, which dies within five or six days. The bite or sting is poisonous to the 

 form or young boll. I have pierced the form with pins more deeply, and it did not 

 hurt it at all. As the worm grows it eats into the young bolls, and almost eats out the 

 inside. It never cats the leaves. When its task is almost done it bores into a boll 

 nearly matured, scoops a bed and changes to a chrysalis. It never spins. [D. Lee, 

 Lowcdes. 



We have an insect, which we denominate " rust," that I regard equally and I may 

 say more destructive to cotton than the caterpillar. I have no doubt but our igno- 

 rance has given it the wrong name. For a few years back (some years worse than 

 others) it has infested the crop, and it is very destructive when moist. It seems to 

 cause the growth to cease, and then the stalk and leaves in some instances entirely 

 disappear from the ground, save possibly a little of the main stem, and this after the 

 cotton is full of squares and small bolls, if not thus disposed of, the leaves seem 

 deady bolls disappear unless matured, in which case they will prematurely open, and 

 posssibly such stalks will have remaining life enough to put out, and, if not too late, 

 mature more or less bolls. To all appearances this insect is what we have been in the 

 Labit of calling "lice" on cotton when the plant is about to be put to a stand; but at 

 the stage of attack here the leaves are, of course, grown, and the lice, or whatever it 

 be, are as thick as any one could conceive, or as thick as lice ever were seen on the 

 small plant in the spring. When in this condition it is easily observable by the com- 

 plexion of the leaf, which becomes darker-colored and has a deposit on the top re- 

 sembling what we call honey-dew on forest flowers. When a field gets iu this condi- 

 tion it is ruined. The caterpillar would be twice'welcomed over it. There is but 

 little known of it. I think, however, dry seasons are more conducive to its spread, 

 and when the lice are found by the hundreds on one leaf ; heavy rains seem to relieve 

 the cotton some. [Andrew Jay, Conecuh. 



I would mention the " boll- icorm" which bores into the boll and destroys each lobe 

 pierced, and many think the boll-worm is more destructive upon an average than the 

 caterpillar, for the reason that it attacks the cotton more or less every year. I have 

 counted frequently as many on some stalks as '25 bolls destroyed by the boll-worm. 

 In 1847 there was no caterpillar; but the boll-worm, from written memoranda fur- 

 nished me by Hon. A. C. Mitchell, of Glenville. Ala. (this county), very nearly destroyed 

 the crops, being equally as destructive as the caterpillar the previous year. The 

 caterpillar and the boll- worm are the great enemies of cotton. To hasten the ma- 

 turity of the crop, hoping to have as much fruit matured as possible before the cater- 

 pillar attacks the cotton crop, has been one of the great incentives to the use of 

 commercial fertilizers. [H. Hawkins, Barbour. 



In 1875 there was an insect made its appearance on the cotton crops in this locality, 

 piercing the very smallest squares and destroying them. In 1870 it caused the failure 

 of the crop ; iu 1877 they did no damage ; in 1878 they have damaged the crop, in our 

 opinion, more than the caterpillar. The first year or two that it made its appearance 

 it was confined to a certain character of laud, but in 1*78 it was general. A good many 

 planters in this locality dread it as much as they do the caterpillar. [Knox, Minge, 

 and Evans, Hale. 



The boll-worm does also great injury. The same means that will destroy the moth 

 of the caterpillar will, I think, destroy the moth of the boll-worm. [H. A. Stolen- 

 werck, Perry. 



The lice in the spring frequently retard the growth of the cotton, and sometimes 

 injure or destroy the stand. These and the boll- worm, which is frequently very in- 

 jurious, are the only insects in addition to the cotton caterpillar from which the crop 

 suffers. [A. D. Edwards, Macon. 



The boll- worm destroys the grown or half-grown bolls, but does not feed on the foli- 

 age or the stalk. [J. W. Du Bose, Montgomery. 



