CHAPTER III 



PAST niSTOKY OF THE COTTON WOEM IN THE UNITED 



STATES. 



CHRONOLOGICAIi ACCOUNT OF APPEARANCES AND OF YEARS OF 

 MARKED PREVALENCE. 



We have been unable to find any record of the appearance of the 

 Cotton Worm in the United States prior to the oft-quoted statement of 

 Spalding's,* that in 1793 "the destruction was complete. In Major 

 Butler's field of 400 acres but 18 bags were made." From this time 

 till 1800 no mention has been made of the worm ; but in that year the 

 crops in South Carolina and Georgia suffered severely. Dr. Capers,t 

 and also Dr. Phares,t give 1800 as the first appearance of the worm in 

 South Carolina ; but there is a published statement of Mr. J. W. Grace § 

 to the effect that the Georgia invasion of 1793 extended to that State. 



1804 was a marked year, and we always find it referred to in the older 

 papers on the worm. In this year the Gulf States suffered for the first 

 time. Louisiana, which grew more cotton than any other State, suf- 

 fered severely. The crops on many plantations were entirely destroyed j 

 but the caterpillars were finally killed by an unusual snow-storm. 



From this time to 1814 we have found no definite record of the cater- 

 pillar, but 1814 was again a year of serious loss in Louisiana, although 

 it does not appear to have been marked upon the Atlantic coast. In 

 this year the rather remarkable instance is seen of the almost total de- 

 struction of the crop as early as June. || 



1825 was again a year of general loss from the worms. The destruc- 

 tion was likened to that of 1804, and was universal throughout the whole 

 cotton belt. Concerning this year we may quote from Dr. Phares : 



In 1825 the destruction was general in extent, embracing all the Cotton States ; the 

 late Mr. Affleck in one of Ms papers asserting tliat the destruction was "universal and 

 complete." I must here be permitted to say that it was not *'comx)lete," as I most 

 distinctly r^emember and know I saw fields in which many bolls were fully matured 

 and gathered before the chenilles injured the plant, and considerable quantities of 

 very superior cotton were made. This was the first year that I saw the chenilles, and 

 circumstances so impressed me that my recollections of their appearance are more 

 vivid than of any time since. 



*See Farmer's & Planter's Cyclopedia, London, 1843: Article, Cotton, 

 t Southern Agriculturist, 1828, p. 203 (Vol. I). 

 t Rural Carolinian, August, 1870. 



§ Report upon Cotton Insects, 1879, Department of Agriculture, p. 387. 



U See DeBow's Review, 1847, p. 251 (P.Winfree), and Dr. Phares in ^uroZ Carolinian, August, 1870. 



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