COTTON 



also has some value in assisting to check the spread of 

 the disease. 



Cotton Stainers (Dysdercus andreae and D. Delauneyi). 

 This pest also has caused a certain amount of trouble 

 from time to time, but has been found to be capable of 

 control by means of suitable traps baited with seed-cotton 

 or cotton seed; the destruction of old cotton is also of 

 importance in checking the spread of this pest. At the 

 present time measures are under consideration with a 

 view to providing legislation for the purpose of enforcing 

 the destruction of all old cotton bushes after the crop 

 has been reaped. 



Flower-bud Maggot (Contarinia gossypii). This has 

 proved a pest of very serious importance in Antigua 

 and at one time threatened the existence of the industry 

 in that island; it has also been recorded in Montserrat, 

 Barbuda, and the Danish island of St. Croix; the disease 

 is due to the larva of a very small Cecidomyid fly, which 

 attacks the young unopened flower buds and causes their 

 death. No actual remedy has as yet been discovered for 

 the pest, but it has been shown that the disease is appar- 

 ently seasonal in its incidence and that it is favoured 

 by the relatively low temperature and high humidity 

 characteristic of the months of December and January; 

 in consequence, a palliative has been found to exist in 

 the planting of the crop at such a time as will ensure 

 the development of the flower buds before the incidence 

 of the dangerous season. 



Fungoid and Bacterial Diseases. Fungoid and bac- 

 terial diseases have not on the whole proved of very 

 great importance in relation to the industry, although 

 losses have from time to time occurred from these 

 causes. Their incidence is usually contingent on the 

 occurrence of exceptionally moist seasonal conditions. 

 Chief among them may be cited angular leaf spot 

 and black arm, anthracnose, and a bacterial disease 

 which causes the discoloration and subsequent shedding 

 of partially matured bolls. No remedial processes have 

 as yet become generally adopted for these diseases, 

 although various measures have been proposed for the 

 purpose. 



