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ot the southern field crops, has issued a bulletin to the effect 

 that the terrific heat has killed more than 99 per cent, of the 

 boll weevils in Texas and Oklahoma, and that the heat and dry- 

 ness of the season everywhere has brought out the small cotton 

 plants and caused the bolls to open earlier than ever before. ' As 

 a consequence,' Dr. Hunter states, 'if the farmers will accept the 

 opportunity nature has provided, hasten the picking of the crops, 

 uproot and burn the plants, there is no possibility that many 

 weevils will be left. In fact, if the cotton plants should be de- 

 stroyed generally in Texas by the middle of September, there 

 would be no boll weevils whatever in Texas next year.' 



" The importance of this statement will be appreciated when it 

 is considered that the boll weevil has cut down the cotton crops 

 more than one half, and in many parts of the state more than 

 two thirds, while in other localities cotton raising has been aban- 

 doned altogether." 



The New York Tribune, October 4, says that " practical 

 unanimity exists throughout the cotton regions of Louisiana in 

 favor of burning cotton stalks and clearing the fields before No- 

 vember I. Mass meetings, attended by both white planters and 

 negro tenants, have been held in many sections, and pledges 

 exacted to conform to suggestions from government entomolo- 

 gists as to forestalling the boll weevil ravages next planting season. 

 Effective work by federal agents has brought a change of senti- 

 ment in favor of modern methods in fighting the cotton pest, and 

 this winter will find few hibernating places for the weevil." 



The chestnut tree canker which has twice been presented by 

 Dr. William A. Murrill in Torreya, is the subject of a pamphlet 

 by Dr. Haven Metcalf and Mr. J. Frankhn Collins (Bulletin No. 

 141, part v.. Bureau of Plant Industry). Emphasis is placed 

 upon the destruction of infected trees, and a " campaign of educa- 

 tion " advised. To aid in this the "Department of Agriculture 

 will cooperate in the following ways : Specimens from suspected 

 trees sent in by any person will be promptly examined and the 

 presence or absence of the disease reported. Typical specimens 

 showing the disease (with the fungus previously killed by soak- 



