COTTOX CULTURE. 87 







These worms will disappear in a few days, and the 

 sanguine planter may be feeling quite sure of an abundant 

 crop. His neighbors may be congratulating him, and he 

 may write a flushed letter to his factor in the city ; 



* * * " and as his crop puts forth 

 The tender leaves of hope, to-morrow blossoms 

 And bears its blushing honors thick upon it : 

 The third day comes " 



not a killing frost ; but a visitation that is just as fatal to 

 the cotton-field and its crop, as though, in the midst of 

 that glowing midsummer, the thermometer should sud- 

 denly drop to the freezing point. 



When the cotton worm is fairly developed and begins 

 his ravages in earnest, the planter has nothing to do but 

 to sit by and witness the havoc. Then his labors are im- 

 potent, for his enemy is unconquerable from the sheer vast- 

 ness of his force. His numbers are in millions and tens 

 of millions ; every plant, and almost every leaf, is swarm- 

 ing with them, and in three days he may behold a magnifi- 

 cent field, embracing perhaps a thousand acres, standing 

 perfectly leafless, with no possibility of affording more 

 than an eighth or a tenth of a crop. 



This is an enemy that admits of no delay ; he must be 

 met at the outset, and fought in every way by which 

 there is any likelihood of conquering him. Those 

 fe\v harmless looking millers were the mothers of the first 

 crop of worms. They produced a large generation of 

 millers, who, in time, became the parents of that enormous 

 host of devourers. 



Let us describe this harmless looking fly a little more 

 fully, so that the planter, to whom she is fortunately not 

 familiar, may recognize her and give her a proper reception. 

 An intelligent planter, who lives just above Port Hudson, 

 in a region that has suffered very much from the ravages 

 of this worm, has given the following description, which 

 will enable the inexperienced to become duly warned. 



