10 BOLL WEEVIL. 



Texas it is the low rainfall durino; spring and summer, especially 

 in the western part of the State, which enables it to maintain its 

 production of cotton. Such conditions do not apply in South Caro- 

 lina and Louisiana. 



COMPARISON OF MIXI3IDM TEMrERATUIiE. 



In a map prepared by the Weather Bureau a line indicating mini- 

 mum absolute temperatures of zero runs across South Carolina from 

 Marlboro to Aiken County, which is practically through the center 

 of the State. This same line passes across the State of Louisiana 

 about two-thirds the distance from the southern boundary. It is 

 thus evident that throughout the most important cotton zone of 

 South Carolina the winter conditions are similar to those in that 

 portion of Louisiana where the production of cotton has been very 

 greatly reduced. A typical parish in this section of Louisiana 

 showed a falling off of from 21,000 bales to 6,000 bales on account 

 of the coming of the weevil. This reduction was due in part to the 

 destructive effects of the insect itself and partly to the reduction of 

 acreage occasioned. On the scor^ of winter temperature there is no 

 other conclusion but that South Carolina will suffer practically as 

 did northern Louisiana. 



COMPARISON OF EAINFALL. 



The important rainfall, so far as the boll weevil is concerned, is 

 from about June 1 to July 31, this being the period of fruiting. 

 Weather Bureau figures show an average precipitation for this 

 period in South Carolina of 16.9 inches and Louisiana 16.2 inches. 

 The total annual precipitation in Louisiana is about 53.4 inches as 

 against 49.5 inches for South Carolina, but the excess in Louisiana 

 occurs largely in winter, when it is of no especial importance in the 

 matter of weevil control. The zone throughout the State of South 

 Carolina in which the summer precipitation is 16 inches or more 

 comprises practically 75 per cent of the important cotton-producing 

 counties of the State. This same zone of rainfall extends over the 

 lower third of Louisiana, passing throuffh the neighborhood of 

 Baton Rouge, and includes parishes in which there has been a re- 

 duction of at least 75 per cent of the cotton crop on account of the 

 Aveevil. Here again we find conditions in South Carolina and Lou- 

 isiana similar. 



CONCLUSIONS. 



There are several fnctors other than minimum winter tempera- 

 tures and maximum summer rainfall which have a bearing on the 

 weevil problem. Among them is the length of the sTowing season- 

 that is, the number of days between the last killing frost in the 

 spring to the first killing frost in the fall. In this' respect South 

 Carolina is similar to the northern counties of Louisiana and the 

 southern counties of Arkansas, Avhere the damas,c has been mate- 

 rial. The obvious conclusion from the above facts is that in South 

 Carolina there will be a condition very similar to that in Louisiana 

 and in Mississippi, with an added difficultv, viz, that the cotton 

 crop in South Carolina can not be made without the use of con- 



