408 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 



advisable on cotton farms, so as to grow no cow^jeas just 

 before cotton, substituting some other legume, as velvet 

 beans, or soj^beans, or crimson clover. 



Liberal fertilization and the use of a little nitrate of 

 soda in the drill at the time of planting hasten the growi:h 

 of the young plant and thus shorten the time during which 

 it is subject to the attacks of the cow^ea-pod wee^al and 

 of cutworms. 'When this insect is present before cotton is 

 chopped, a thick stand should be left, to be thinnetl to a 

 final stand after the attacks of this insect have ceased. 



376. The cotton caterpillar (Alabama argiUacea). — For- 

 merly this was the most destructive enemy of the cotton 

 plant. In recent decades the injur}- has been infrequent 

 and never widespread. The damage is done l)y the larval 

 or caterpillar stage of a graj-ish moth. Eggs are laid on 

 the underside of the leaves, where the larvae hatch and 

 devour the fohage. On reaching the proper degree of 

 maturity the larvae fold the leaf together said surround 

 themselves with a web in which the pupa or chrysalis 

 form of the insect is passed . From the pupa emerges soon 

 the adult moth jirepared to lay eggs for a new generation 

 of larvae. The insect passes the wnter as a moth. 



Complete protection is afforded liy dusting or spraying 

 the plants with Paris green or other ]ireparation of arsenic. 

 The most usual method of apphnug the poison consists 

 in tjdng a small sack of Paris green alone or mixed with 

 flour, on each end of a stout stick as long as the rows are 

 wide. A man on horseback riding between the rows 

 shakes out a cloud of dust above the row on either side, 

 thus poisoning about 20 acres in a day. 



Where the cotton caterpillar and the cotton boll-weevil 



