143 



Table XXXIX. — Temperature comparisons of various cotton sections. 



Month. 



Monthly average normal mean for 11 years, 1892-1902. 



Victoria, 

 Tex., av- 

 erage 



(1902, 



1903, and 



1904 



only.) 



Dallas, 

 Tex. 



Shreve- 

 fxort. La. 



Atlanta, 

 Ga. 



Texas 

 section. 



Louisi- 

 ana sec- 

 tion. 



Georgia 

 section. 



Juno 



July 



August 



September 



October 



Kovember 



Average for 6 months 



°F. 

 80.3 

 81.6 

 84.5 

 80.0 

 72.2 

 64.5 



F. 



80.5 



83.3 



82.8 

 77.4 

 68.1 

 56.7 



° F. 

 79.9 



82.4 

 82.5 

 77.8 

 67.1 

 56.8 



°F. 



°F. 



°F. 



78.0 



80.6 



80.1 



80.3 



88.9 



83.5 



79.2 



82.8 



81.6 



70.2 



77.3 



77.1 



62.6 



67.9 



67.7 



57.8 



57.3 



58.9 



°F. 

 78.2 

 80.1 

 79.0 

 74.7 

 64.5 

 58.9 



2 I 



74.1 



74.4 



rl.2 



Ji.6 



'2.2 



From these considerations of temperature difference, and judging 

 the varying influence as ascertained at Victoria, it seems that the 

 weevil ma}" prove less and less destructive as it spreads to the cooler 

 portions of the cotton belt, though this supposition is likelj^ to be 

 modified by the ability to adapt itself to new conditions. 



While it must be admitted that nothing, so far as now known, seems 

 certain to prevent the spread of the weevil to any latitmde where cotton 

 is now^ grown, it does seem probable that its control may be more easily 

 accomplished in the more northern portions of the cotton belt than in 

 the Texas area now infested, and since it has been most positively 

 demonstrated that better than the average crop may here be grown 

 in spite of the depredations of the weevil, there w^ould seem to be no 

 special reason for a panic over the future of the cotton crop. (PI. 

 XXIII, fig. 93.) Cotton has been and still will be grown in spite of 

 the weevil. The present promise is that those planters who enter the 

 struggle with determination, and who adopt the advanced methods 

 which have proven successful wherever tried, will realize practically 

 as large a profit from cotton raising in the future as it has been 

 possible to obtain in the past. 



DISEASES. 



Especially in moist breeding jars, weevils often die from what 

 appears to be a bacterial disease. The body contents liquef}", turning 

 to a dark brown in color, and have a putrid odor. Death follows 

 quickly, though not until after putrefaction has begun. The fre- 

 quency with which several weevils died in the same jar at about the 

 same time indicates that this disease may be contagious. It has not 

 been found in the fields, however, and may have been due entireh" to 

 abnormal laboratory conditions. 



It is doubtful whether the following observations upon fungus 

 attacks upon weevils should properh^ be classed with diseases, but as 

 there is a possibility that the attack may have been of this nature, the 

 observations may be given here. 



