1. The Bollworm. 



IT occurs throughout the plains all the year round, and be- 

 sides attacking cotton it occurs on bhindi and hollyhock. 



Damage. This boll worm, which is really a caterpillar, bores 

 into cotton buds, flowers and bolls, and t^hus damages the fruit. 

 In June buds are attacked ; they dry and fall off. In July 

 flowers are attacked and wither. Bolls are attacked as soon as they 

 appear. The caterpillars bore into them, eat the seed inside, 

 and destroy the lint by filling it with excreta. The young bolls 

 fall off and the mature ones do not open or yield only extremely 

 poor cotton. 



Control Bollworm is the most serious pest of cotton, and 

 unless measures are adopted early in the season much damage is 

 done .to the crop. 



The following measures will be found useful : 



1. During June and July, when the bollworm is in the 

 cotton buds and flowers, mechanical measures must be employed 

 to destroy them. One of the easiest ways of doing so is to sweep 

 a drawn rope over the upper portions of the cotton plants in the 

 field, which should then be thoroughly watered. In this way the 

 affected buds and flowers will be jerked off the plants with the 

 bollworms inside, and they will be drowned in the water. This 

 should be carried out once a fortnight. 



2. From the beginning of August, after the appearance of 

 bolls, parasite boxes should be obtained from the Agricultural 

 Department, and by their use the parasite, which is the enemy of 

 the bollworm, should be spread in the fields. This will effect u- 

 ally stop any abnormal increase of the pest. 



The use of the parasite and the parasite boxes is as fol- 

 lows : 



The parasite is a small insect which feeds upon the cotton 

 bollworm. If it is present in cotton fields the growth of the 

 bollworm is checked and the crop is saved. The Agricultural 

 Department breeds a regular supply of these parasites, and from 

 the end of .July onwards distributes them in specially prepared 

 parasite boxes in^the cotton growing tracts of the province. 



The parasite box is filled with heavily parasitised bollworms. 

 To use the box, unscrew the wooden top. Below it is the gauze 

 top Place the box with this gauze top upwards on bricks under 

 the shade of some plant in the middle of an affected cotton field. 

 Leave it undisturbed for 12 days. By that time all the parasites 



