Insect Enemies and Allies 211 



thing like a million dollars is spent annually in an 

 effort to destroy them, or at least to keep them from 

 spreading. 



Many peach trees throughout the whole country are The peach- 

 killed by a larva that bores into the lower part of the 

 trunk and the crown of the roots. It works in the grow- 

 ing wood just under the bark. To prevent the wasplike 

 mother moth from laying her* eggs on the lower part 

 of the tree, the trunk can be wrapped with heavy paper . 

 and the roots banked up with earth during the egg- 

 laying season. Or, better than banking with earth, 

 a coating of " Grade D " asphaltum may be melted 

 and applied to the trunk from a point five or six inches 

 below the ground to the same distance above the 

 ground. The covering may not prevent all worms 

 from entering the tree. Those that succeed in boring 

 into the bark must be dug out with a knife. 



A very destructive insect known as the " cotton-boll The cotton- 

 weevil " came across the Rio Grande from Mexico into 

 Texas about 1890, and each year since that time it has 

 spread over a larger area. 

 Its only food is the cotton 

 plant. It works mostly 

 in the unopened blossoms 

 or " squares" ; but during 

 the latter part of the 

 season, when blossoms are 

 scarce, it works also in 

 young bolls. Two meth- 

 ods of control are early u ' s ' D ' A ' Methods 



... FIG. 164. The cotton-boll weevil. o f control 



planting, and burning the Larva and adult at work. 



