COTTON 4 17 



introduced by Messrs Andres and Maire, for the capture 

 of the boll worm and cotton worm moths, and a large 

 amount of work with these appliances was subsequently 

 undertaken by Mr. F. C. Willcocks, with the result that 

 they proved to exercise an insufficient deterrent effect 

 upon the propagation of the insects. 



Cotton Worm and Boll Worm Commission in 1912. 



In 1912 a Commission was formed at the instigation 

 of Lord Kitchener to make a complete study of the cotton 

 pests, and the Sub-Committee appointed by the Commis- 

 sion is still engaged in the investigation. In the mean- 

 time another pest has appeared which has placed the 

 common boll worm rather in the background, and which 

 has given evidence of causing a diminution in the 

 numbers of the original insect by the substitution of itself 

 in its place. 



The efforts which are now being made to destroy this 

 new pest, the pink boll worm or seed worm, can almost 

 all be made applicable to the Earias boll worm also, and 

 the modification of the boll worm decree rendering it 

 compulsory to pick off and burn all bolls after the last 

 cotton picking is designed to be effective against both 

 pests equally. 



Estimation of Damage done by the Common Boll 

 Worms. It has always been a matter of great difficulty 

 to estimate the damage done to the cotton crop by the 

 larva of Earias insulana. It is, in fact, only possible to 

 give a comparative estimate of the effect each year, but, 

 as the degree of destruction is almost wholly dependent 

 upon whether the crop is an early or late one, it is nearly 

 safe to predict that damage will be great when the crop 

 is late and slight when it is early. 



The reason for the above is that the generations of 

 boll worm multiply rapidly throughout the year, being at 

 their minimum in the winter or early spring, when the 

 food plants, cotton and hibiscus (bamiah and tehl) are 

 most scarce, and increasing in each generation as these 

 plants again become plentiful, until, in the month of 

 October, the greatest quantity of food is available and 

 the largest number of boll worms are able to find 

 sustenance. 



