Marcu 24, 1904] 
UWA TORE 
499 
FROST EFFECTS AT NIAGARA. 
ME. ORRIN E. DUNLAP, writing from Niagara Falls, 
sends us some striking photographs of ice formations 
noticed at Niagara during the past winter. An ice bridge 
formed in the gorge below the Falls in December last, and 
thousands of persons crossed from shore to shore on 
this curious formation. Another remarkable object was an 
ice mountain composed of a massive coilection of frozen spray 
Pe nasil 
Photo. 
Fic. 1.—Mass of Frozen Spray at Niagara. 
(Fig. 1). Usually this mound rests on the débris slope 
between the inclined railway building and the falling water, 
but last winter it bridged the torrent of the American Fall 
and extended over in front of the Fall. Here a grotto-like 
effect was caused by the wearing tendencies of the falling 
water, and the effect was repeated on the outside, or ice 
bridge side, of the mountain. From the ice bridge the 
different layers of ice that went to make up the mound 
could be distinguished. 
A part of the face of the cliff over which the American 
Photo. 
Fic 2.—Prospect Park as viewed rom Prospect Point. 
Fall usually flows was hidden under huge icicles that hung 
from the brink to the talus at the foot of the precipice. In 
Prospect Parl the ice that gathered on the trees was very 
destructive. The ice grew so heavy that the largest trees 
lost many branches, and some were left with only their 
trunks. 
The grandest sight of all was, says Mr. Dunlap, at 
Prospect Point in the middle of February. The wind blew 
from the south-west, and the spray of the American Fall 
fell upon the Point, where it was frozen with great rapidity. 
NO. 1795, VOL. 69] 
Every hour added to the mass, until finally it was more 
than 30 feet high from the water as it plunged over the 
American Fall. The mound extended back into the park, 
half burying trees that were already weighted with 
great loads of ice (Fig. 2). One of the accompanying illus- 
trations shows this ice mound. Realising that the mound 
might damage the lower section of the inclined railway 
building or cause loss of life among the many who climbed 
about the ice and mountain below, it was resolved to try 
to blast it away. Lo accomplish this 
holes were drilled along the upper river 
side, and eight sticks of dynamite placed 
in them; but their explosion accom- 
plished little, owing to the slight resist- 
ance offered by the ice. 
A FORMIDABLE ENEMY TO 
THE COTTON PLANT. 
*REAT alarm has been caused in 
America by the ravages and rapid 
spread of a new insect pest, the Mexican 
Boll-weevil (Anthonomus grandis, Bohe- 
man), which was described from Vera 
Cruz in 1843, but first attracted serious 
notice in the region around Monclova, 
in the State of Coahuila, Mexico, about 
1856, and within six years from that 
time had devastated the cotton crops to 
such an extent that the cultivation of the 
plant was actually abandoned in the 
neighbourhood. ‘Thence the insect ex- 
tended its ravages north and east until 
it reached Matamoras, at the mouth of the Rio Grande, 
the river which forms the boundary between Mexico and 
Texas. 
In 1892 the weevil crossed the river, and by 1894 had 
spread throughout the cotton region of southern Texas. In 
1894 the damage done in many of the infested districts, both 
in Texas and Mexico, was estimated at no less than from 
50 to go per cent., and the American Government was 
strongly urged by the entomologist who prepared the first 
official report on the subject (Mr. C. H. Tyler Townsend) 
to take instant and drastic measures to 
try to stamp out the pest. However, 
nothing was done, and with some fluctu- 
ations the insect continued to spread, 
and though the American entomologists 
reported on it from time to time in 
““farmer’s bulletins ’’ and elsewhere, it 
was not until June, 1902, that funds 
were allotted for experiments on a large 
scale. At present the insect is still con- 
fined to Texas, but already the infested 
area is estimated to include about 1/28th 
of the whole cotton district of the United 
States, and there is now no reasonable 
probability of either stamping out the 
pest or preventing its extension within 
the next twenty years over the whole 
cotton-growing region of the southern 
United States, nor is there any prob- 
ability that its attacks will become less 
serious with the lapse of time. The 
loss in Texas alone in 1902 is variously 
estimated at from 8 to 25 millions, and 
though other causes may have con- 
tributed to the deficient crop, there is no 
doubt that it was largely due to the 
attacks of the weevil. Still, much can 
be done by early planting and thorough cultivation, and the 
destruction of all stalks and other refuse by burning, not 
later than the end of September. Poison and traps are in- 
efficient, but a cold December and January are very de- 
structive to the insect; nor has it attacked the cotton- 
growing district of Laguna, in Mexico, which lies at an 
elevation of 3500 feet. 
At length the authorities are roused, and the American 
House of Representatives has lately passed a Bill for the 
appropriation of a sum of 250,000 dollars for the extermin- 
O. E. Dunlap. 
O. E. Dunlap. 
The ice in the foreground is 10 feet thick. 
