APPENDIX II ANSWERS TO CIRCULAR. 487 



cotton-plant, and at night cuts the stalk partially or altogether through, causing its 

 utter destruction, or making a puny and deformed plant of it. Next we have a worm 

 called the "boll- worm" or " bore- worm," which bores a hole into'the boll after it has 

 become partially or wholly grown, and causes it to perish altogether or to become hard 

 and imperfect and fail to mature and open. Some seasons the cotton-plant is injured 

 by grasshoppers, but their injuries are not deemed very great. The cotton-plant some- 

 times dies of rust, but this is considered a disease of the plant caused by something 

 present in the soil which poisons the plant, or some elements lacking in the soil to nour- 

 ish the plant properly. [D. M. Hamilton, West Feliciana. 



MISSISSIPPI. 



The boll-worm is comparatively small, resembling the silk- worm in its early stages. 

 Its attacks are made within the calyx and about the base of the boll, which it per- 

 forates, and when first forming are tender ; it wholly devours it or causes it to drop 

 off. The light effectually disposes of the ino.th that deposits this egg. The greasy rot 

 is caused by the puncture of the boll by a bug or something. It looks like a greasy 

 spot about the size of a three-cent silver piece with a little dot or puncture in the cen- 

 ter. The diseased boll when broken open often contains a small variety of insects some- 

 times in the different stages of their transformations. This disease first made its ap- 

 pearance in 1810 and lasted for about ten years, occasionally to such an extent as al- 

 most to cause the abandonment of the culture of cotton, a contingency prevented by 

 the introduction of the Tennessee green seed which was exempt from the disease or 

 less affected than the black seed variety. It reappeared in 1852, more or less then to 

 date (see Wailes, 1854). In my opinion cotton is subject to as many ailments as human 

 flesh is heir to, but will say this : that it has the most wonderfully recuperative pow- 

 ers of any plant I ever saw, and I never despair of a cotton crop until attacked by 

 worms, for if you give it half a chance it will come out in this latitude. 31 45'. [j. 

 W. Burch, Jefferson. 



The boll-worm visited the crops here early in July (during which month we had 

 repeated rains), and has continued its ravages up to the present period. The opinion 

 of the planters, as generally expressed to me, as well as my own, is that it has done 

 more damage this year than the anomis will do, though many fields are now stripped 

 of their leaves by the latter. Many say the worms have cut the crop short one-half, 

 others again one-third. The grass-worm appeared likewise in July, but only in small 

 areas, and though found eating the leaf and young boll, to a partial extent, did no 

 appreciable damage. The leaf has been covered with the aphis or louse, throughout 

 the season, but has done no noticeable damage. I have found occasionally a single 

 large worm, resembling, but larger than the boll-worm, stripping individual stalks of 

 cotton. No other insects have proved injurious. [E. H. Anderson, Madison. 



There are two kinds of worms, both very destructive : the boll-worm, which pierces 

 the small squares first and is not larger than a pin-point, but grows two or three inches 

 long, and eats all the green bolls ; and the leaf- worm, that eats all the leaves, leaving 

 nothing but the branches or stems. [Kenneth Clarke, Chickasaw. 



The boll-worm often destroys many of the growing bolls. But as every stalk pro- 

 duces many more forms than it can mature and the bolls attacked are quickly re- 

 placed, the damage is not often great. [J. Culbertson, Rankin. 



Lice are sometimes very injurious in the spring ; and in the season of production the 

 " blare- worm," a small worm that perforates the "square" about the time of blooming 

 and causes the "square" to stand blared open and to drop off; and the boll-worm, so 

 well known and often described, often does great damage. [C. Welch, Covington. 



The plant-louse, Aphis, is very destructive on the young cotton-plant, especially if 

 the weather be cool, so that the plant cannot grow vigorously. I have taken some 

 pains to investigate its habits. If you desire it I will furnish you with what I know 

 relative to it. Do not know of anything that will counteract its work. It sucks all 

 the sap out of the plant. Some suppose the ants eat them. This, however, is uot the 

 case ; they protect them, and only eat the nectar they discharge. [W. Spillman, Clarke. 



NORTH CAROLINA. 



The common grub, garden, or " colored " worm is very destructive to cotton in this 

 locality, especially on light soils highly manured. They cut the young plant off, 

 during the night, an inch or so above the ground, and pull the leaves into the hole 

 they burrow in the earth. Plowing the ground during cold weather is the only remedy 

 ever used, and not an efficient one at all. The plant is also attacked in early spring iu 

 low. damp places, by a small insect or louse known among us as the " blue-bug." It 

 sucks the plant just above ground, as many as a dozen being frequently found on one 

 plant. Cotton-plants are also troubled in the months of June and July, during damp, 

 cool weather, by the plant-louse. They seldom destroy, but do seriously retard the 

 growth of the plant. [J. Evans, Cumberland. 



During the past three seasons the common cabbage-worm or cut-worm has been very 

 destructive to young cotton, cutting it down just as it is coming up, injuring and often 



