486 EEPORT UPON COTTON INSECTS. 



when it is first up, which destroys the plant entirely. I have known fields to have to 

 be plowed up and planted over, as those worms had destroyed it after a good stand was 

 up. They are not apt to last many weeks before they pass to something else. They 

 are worst in cold, wet springs. The cut-worm hides under about an inch of the loose 

 earth on the surface of the ground during the day, and only works at night. 2d, we 

 have a yellow insect called a cricket that attacks cotton. Some springs, generally in 

 the month of May, they will climb up the plant and cut 1 to 3 inches of the top, caus- 

 ing the plant to become scrubby and flat. These crickets burrow in the ground to the 

 depth of 10 to 15 inches and raise their young at the bottom of their burrows ; one 

 will have 20 or 30 young, and they carry parts of the tender cotton into their burrows 

 for their young to feed on until they are able to gain their own livelihood. [Timothy 

 Fussell, Coffee. 



I have never known any very great damage done to the cotton crop in this section 

 by any insects until two years ago, when some crops were destroyed by the grasshop- 

 per ; and also the year previous to that, 1874, some plantations in this part of the coun- 

 try were visited by what we call a caterpillar from the woods in the month of Septem- 

 ber, which ate all the leaves off of the stocks, but did not injure the fruit ; in fact, it 

 was an advantage to the farmer in that respect ; his cotton matured at an earlier pe- 

 riod. [H. W. Hammett, Cobb. 



The aphis or cotton-louse injures the cotton more or less early in the season. In past 

 years there was a red bug, which made its appearance in Florida and came as farnorth 

 as Mclutosh County, Georgia. This insect did considerable damage. Have heard 

 nothing of it lately. [William Jones, Clarke. 



We have what is called the cotton-louse that attacks the cotton the last of May or 

 first of June and injures it badly. It seems to be under the leaves and sucks the plant 

 until it stops its growth entirely for some time. Hot weather after a while drives it 

 away and the plant grows rapidly. Some say that it is not damaged by the louse, but 

 I think differently. [E. M. Thompson, Jackson. 



I herewith inclose another insect that is very destructive to cotton, in box marked B. 

 They are called here the stinging worm, and their sthjg is very painful. They web 

 up and transform into a different shaped worm; They remain here during winter, 

 being so securely housed. [S. P. Odom, Dooly. 



Among the new insects I have found ou the cotton is Cithcronia rcgalis, which feeds on 

 the leaves in August and September. It feeds besides ou persimmons and sweet gum, 

 the hickories and walnuts. Its occurrence on cotton- weed excites no alarm, to which 

 plant it is not as injurious as the double-hooded hypercluuia. [A. E. Grote, Savannah. 



The only worm that troubles us in this county is t he army worm. They only eat the 

 leaves and destroy the grass. Millions are now in the cotton-fields and hay-fields, but 

 do but little damage to the cotton, and in some instances are a benefit by eating the 

 leaves from large rank cotton, causiug the sun to shine in and open it where otherwise 

 the cotton would rot and not open. [R. H. Springer, Carroll. 



There is no other worm except the caterpillar that affects the cotton after it has 

 been chopped and worked out. The cut- worm very often does serious injury to the 

 crop in the way of injuring the stand in spring when the cotton first comes up. [D. P. 

 Luke, Berrien. 



The boll-worm does us more damage, upon the whole, than the cotton-worm. The 

 previous entomologist of the Department has the lly, the worm, and the work, accu- 

 rately described. [A. J. Cheves, Macou. 



General inquiry in regard to injury of cotton-plant in my section by small insect, 

 and request to send you sample of same, is hereby acknowledged. The injury com- 

 menced, as stated in my report, in small patches around trees and stumps on fresh 

 land, particularly on lands which had been in continuous cultivation in cotton from 

 five to seven years, and about the last week in July. At first I did not attach much, 

 importance to it, considering it only small patches of crust, but in two or three weeks 

 it spread over a number of acres on my farm, totally mining the cotton infected. My 

 neighbors reported the same thing, in the same way. We had never had anything of 

 the kind before. The insect is very small, hardly discernible by the eye without a 

 glass. The foliage is the part attacked, which falls off and leaves the stalk. Their 

 ravages seemed worse during the excessive hot weather; rather checked up afi*:r a 

 rain. They lasted from four to five weeks, which was about the last week in August. 

 Since then the foliage has grown out, and in some instances a fair crop of half-grown 

 fruit. The season is too short, however, for it to mature. [Heury W. Deau, Floyd. 



LOUISIANA. 



When the cotton-plant is small it is sometimes affected with small insects which we 

 call " cotton-lice," and which are found on the under side of the leaves. They cause 

 the leaves to draw up and have a puckered appearance. This we call " possum-ears." 

 If very numerous they cause the stalks infested to become sickly and sometimes to die. 

 Next comes a worm which preys on the cotton after it has grown to bo five or six inches 

 high which we call the " cut-worm." It burrows in the ground at the roots of the 



