32 



BULLETIN" 564, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Table 27. — Comparison of Hecla and Eureka, Madison Parish, La., tests informs 



collected in bags. 





Date. 



Forms collected 

 per acre. 





Eureka 

 plat 2. 



Hecla. 





123 





June 16.... 





285 



June 20 



116 









346 



J une 27 



338 





June 29 





414 



July 5 



472 





Julv 10 





894 



Julv 11 



1,309 





Julv 17 





506 











Total 



2,358 





2,445 







In trie Hecla test it is seen that during a total of five pickings ex- 

 tending from June 16 to July 17, 2,445 forms per acre were collected, 

 while on plat 2 of the Eureka test the five pickings extending from 

 June 13 to July 11 yielded a total of 2,358 forms per acre. Thus 

 through this period the total forms collected in the two tests were 

 approximately the same. However, a study of the individual pick- 

 ings shows these totals to have been reached by quite different 

 records. There was a comparatively slight increase on the Hecla 

 test from the first to the fourth picking, and then the fifth picking 

 decreased somewhat. In the Eureka test the first four pickings 

 yielded less than the same number of the Hecla test, but the fifth 

 picking increased several hundred per cent. Two factors undoubt- 

 edly influenced this difference of results in the two tests. These 

 were the degree of weevil infestation and the cotton variety. The 

 higher initial infestation of the Hecla test resulted in a greater num- 

 ber of squares being collected on that plat in the early pickings, 

 but the comparative lack of prolificacy and the determinate fruiting 

 of this long-staple variety of cotton was becoming effective by the 

 picking of July 17, and consequently there was an actual reduction 

 in the number of forms collected. On the other hand, the fight 

 initial infestation of the Eureka test resulted in low records at the 

 first few pickings, but the rapid increase in this infestation and the 

 enormous abundance of squares caused the later pickings to yield 

 large numbers. 



Unfortunately no collections of fallen forms were made in the 

 Eureka plats, so it is impossible to compare the two tests on this 

 point. 



