CHAPTER XVI. 



THE BOLL WORM. 



(Heliotliis armigera Hiibner). 



Order Lepidoptera 5. family Xoctuidje. 



[Plates III and I Vj. 



INTRODUCTORY. 



The Boll Worm may very appropriately be classed as amoug the 

 foremost of the first-class iujurious insects. The amount of damage 

 which it does in the course of a year to one crop or another is very 

 great. In many parts of the South it is the chief enemj^ known to cot- 

 ton ; while there can be little doubt that the corn crop suffers more 

 from its attacks, year in and year out, than from any other one enemy, 

 the chinch bug not excepted. With tomatoes, peas, and beans, though 

 the general injury is not great, yet occasionally the crops of certain 

 sections suffer very severely. The annual drain upon the resources of 

 the country from this one insect may be illustrated by a few quotations 

 from Southern newspapers and from the correspondence of the Depart- 

 ment. 



Jutlge Johnson, of Holly Springs, Miss., says in his report: "Of all 

 the injuries to cotton in this latitude none can compare with the Boll 

 Worm, for it is universal and a regular annual visitor. 



'• This worm is far more injurious in this part of Mississippi than the 

 Cotton Army-worm or any other insect pest." — [Prof. E. W. Jones, 

 Oxford, Miss. 



" From all directions come discouraging reports of the cotton crop. 

 The Boll Worm has done its work of devastation so thoroughly that 

 there is now no hope of a greater yield than one bale to eight acres, and 

 in some few cases proprietors will not put pickers to work or give their 

 crops further attention." — [Statistical Report from Grayson County, 

 Texas, 1880. 



"Examination into cotton fields in different portions of this county 

 satisfy cotton men and farmers that the damage of the Boll Worm will 

 reduce the yield of the fields examined fully four-fifths. They are re- 

 ported as ravaging the plant in Denton, and at work on crops raised on 



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