504: PROCEEDINGS OF THE THIRD ENTOMOLOGICAL MEETING 



111 1912, after the formation of the Department of Agriculture, this 

 law was revised and replaced by Law 19 of 1912. It was now provided 

 that in all the provinces south of C4izeh (Upper Egypt) the last date 

 for pulling up the cotton-sticks and the ohroe and H. cannahinus should 

 be 15th December of each year. The other, more northern, provinces 

 were given until 31st December. Exceptions were made for the most' 

 northern sub-districts in which 15th January was the final date. Owing 

 to intense opposition encountered when preparing the law, ratoon cotton 

 had to be permitted. The growing of ratoon cotton was however regu- 

 lated ; the ratooning plants had to be cut down to 15 cm. above the 

 ground, sheep had to be pastured in the cotton fields before this cutting 

 down of the plants in order to eat the leaves and bolls, and any leaves 

 or bolls left after their passage were to be swept up and burnt before 

 the cotton- sticks might be cut or heaped up. If all this treatment were 

 not applied before 15th January then the exception granted for the 

 ratoon fields was annulled, and the land was to be treated as if no exemp- 

 tion had been granted. 



As in the previous law, all cotton, ohroe or H. cannahinus found 

 growing after the prescribed date was to be pulled up and destroyed 

 by the local authorities, costs being recovered by the administrative 

 channel. 



A weak point in both these laws was the inadequate penalties. The 

 Capitulations limit the penalties to one pound or one week's imprison- 

 ment or both. 



In 1912 the first serious outbreak of the Pink Boll worm occurred 

 at Abukir near Alexandria. In the next year it became more or less 

 general throughout the Delta, and was noticed in Upper Egypt (where 

 we know of. its occurrence, however, since 1911). 



This outbreak of the Pink Bollworm, whose very serious nature 

 was recognized in the autumn of 1913 — in the summer of 1912 one 

 still was of the opinion that it was a native insect — led during the summer 

 of 1914 to the issuing of Law No. 4 of 1914, which ordered that each 

 year after the cotton harvest, all bolls adhering to the plants were to be 

 removed and burnt. This operation was to be executed 15 days before 

 the date fixed as the last one before which all plants must be pulled up. 

 In case of non-execution of the boll-picking the plants were to be seized 

 and burnt. 



In the light of after-events it did not go far enough. The dates 

 fixed were much too late to do any good and the law made no mention 

 of the fallen bolls. The burning of the sticks was, however, a penaltjr 

 which would induce most landowners to comply after a fashion. 



