tlic weevil occurring in this territory have reached the Com- 

 mission. All such reports were investigated, usually by per- 

 sonal visits to the localities and by actual examination of the 

 cotton fields supposed to be threatened by the pest. In all cases 

 the reports were found to have been occasioned by other in- 

 sects. As not a single case of infestation has b'en found in the 

 eastern portions of the State, the quarantines maintained by 

 the Commission may safely be assumed to have saved those sec- 

 tions many thousands of dollars on the cotton crops of the 

 next few years. 



As the cotton-growing section of the State east of the Missis- 

 sippi River is not likely to suffer severe weevil damage within 

 the next three or four years, and as Northeastern Louisiana will 

 not be reached by the weevil in its natural spread for six or 

 eight years, the advisability of protecting those sections from 

 artificial or accidental introduction of the boll weevil in the 

 meantime, by regulations such as have already proven effective,, 

 must be self-evident. 



The boll weevil quarantines maintained by the Commis- 

 sion, and their operation, are discussed in Circular No. 5, copy 

 of which is attached. 



(VLTURAL EXPERIMENTS AND DEMONSTRATIONS. 



The excessive rains of early summer resulted in the over- 

 flow of several experimental plats of much importance, and 

 during midsummer the quarantines prevented the assistant en- 

 tomologists from giving personal attention to the field experi- 

 ments, so that the results were by no means as satisfactory as 

 had been expected. They did demonstrate, however, the material 

 increase in cotton production in boll weevil sections, made pos- 

 sible by the use of early-maturing varieties of cotton, proper 

 use of fertilizers and thorough cultivation. 



Jn the spring of 1905 the Commission distributed King 

 cotton seed to a number of farmers in Sahiue Parish, and in 

 December obtained from these same farmer* their cot Ion acreage 

 and production. For comparison, similar data were obtained 

 from other farmers \viio <li<l not use early varieties or attempt 

 t" follow the "cultural methods." These records show that those 



