CROP PEST COMMISSION OP 



Those farmers who adopt the proper methods of cotton 

 culture will continue to produce profitable crops of cotton, while 

 those who, either through ignorance or disinclination, fail to 

 adopt those methods which years of study and practical exper- 

 ience have shown to be the only ones by which this foe can be 

 successfully circumvented, will inevitably find one crop of cotton 

 after another destroyed by the boll weevil. 



To win this battle at the outset will mean increased pros- 

 perity, while to lose it will result in conditions little short of 

 calamitous, alike to business man and farmer. 



That the general adoption of the remedial measures, as 

 embodied in the cultural remedy for the weevil, will ultimately 

 prevail there can be no doubt, but if the Louisiana planter must 

 learn by actual experience the necessity of adopting these meas- 

 ures it will mean, for him, the loss of several crops of cotton in 

 rapid succession. That the farmers may be saved this costly 

 experience is the earnest desire of the Commission, and realizing 

 the importance of co-operation and of a thorough understanding 

 between the Commission and the farmers as to the plan to be 

 followed in the campaign against the boll weevil, it seems best 

 to present a brief discussion of the lines along which the Com- 

 mission's efforts are being directed. 



The work of the Commission, in this campaign against the 

 boll weevil, is being conducted along three rather distinct lines: 



(1) Preventing, so far as possible, the spread of the boll 

 weevil to new territory; (2) reducing the weevil damage in the 

 territory already infested by disseminating information regard- 

 ing the cultural methods to be employed in producing profitable 

 crops of cotton in defiance of the weevil, and by experimental 

 and demonstration work with the cultural methods upon different 

 soils and under different conditions; (3) investigating, and dis- 

 seminating information regarding, insects other than the boll 

 weevil, in order that the production of crops other than cotton 

 may be rendered more profitable than heretofore and the adop- 

 tion of a diversified system of farming be encouraged among 

 the farmers in the weevil-infested territory. 



Before proceeding with a discussion of any one of these 

 three lines of work, a short review of the weevil's progress into 

 Louisiana territory up to the present time will be advisable in 



