'508 rROCEEDXNGS OF THE THIRD ENTOMOLOGICAL MEETING 



considerably, and that it is false economy to balance possible present 

 loss to the few against the certain increased loss to the entire com- 

 munity in the next season. 



The campaign of 1916 was carried out much more thoroughly and 

 vigorously than that of 1915. But it is humanly impossible to get 

 perfect work. It is also to be remembered that the war seriously inter- 

 fered with the organization. A very large percentage of our British 

 Inspectors were fighting. The few left were overworked. The native 

 ■staff, especially in the lowest, badly paid grades, was unreliable and 

 corrupt. Many were only taken on temporarily and made the most 

 of their opportunities. 



In August 1916, Mr. Ballou, Entomologist to the West Indies, was 

 lent to the Egyptian Government by the Colonial Office to examine 

 and report on the Pink Bollworm situation, and on the measures adopted 

 for its control. Mr. Ballou arrived in time to see the campaign of 

 1916, and remained long enough to see that of 1917. He presented 

 a long report of what he had seen, in which he endorsed the action taken 

 •up to the present as being satisfactory, making however, the sugges- 

 tion that the plants should be pulled up immediately after the harvest, 

 and stripped of bolls later on. This suggestion was arrived at in 

 conference with Mr. Willcocks, Entomologist of the Sultania Agricul- 

 tural Society, Mr. Storey, Mr. Adair and myself, all being in agree- 

 ment. The reason underlying the change is that plants left standing 

 will, by producing new buds, flowers, or bolls, be constantly producing 

 mew sources of food-supply for the Pink Bollworm and keeping old ones 

 in a suitable condition. It is thought that, by uprooting the plants as 

 soon as possible, the buds and young bolls will almost immediately, 

 and the older bolls very soon, become totally unsuitable as food-supply 

 for young worms. 



Plants pulled up before October would, without removal of their 

 ^bolls, be less dangerous than plants left till November before boll 

 removal and December before pulling. Ballou's report, which endorses 

 the action taken by the Ministry of Agriculture, has hitherto had to 

 remain unpublished on account of the paper famine in Egypt, which 

 was at a time really very acute. 



In 1916 burning sticks was really carried out, and produced a 

 very salutary efiect on the cultivators, but in 1917 and 1918 it was no 

 longer possible to insist on the burning of the sticks on account of the 

 fuel famine. The absence of any serious penalty instantly showed 

 itself, as was to be expected, in increased indifference on the part of the 

 cultivators, so much so that the 1918 campaign may be said to have 

 been very imperfect. 



