THE COTTON WORM IN SOUTH TEXAS. 35 



new crop, then (25th April) 10 inches high, and beginning to form, had 

 single eggs only scattered here and there. Tin* only apparent differ- 

 ence was that the foliage on the sprouts was more bushy. 1 

 sprouts, I was informed, appear annually, often as early as January in 



that locality, invariably in March and April, though I most state that 

 I visited a field planted in cotton the previous year, about 2 miles 



distant, and at an elevation of 20 or 25 feet above the level of the 

 named field, and exposed on all sides, where the stalks had not been 

 plowed up, and all were dead. 



This field of Mr. Anderson s is on the Guadalupe River, and strictly 

 bottom prairie, varying from black waxy to light brown, and all ex- 

 tremely fertile. The field extends from the river on the west to the 

 hills on the east, where the land breaks off into upland wooded prairie, 

 of lime and gravelly geological formation. The hill skirting the field 

 has at its base a luxuriant undergrowth, among which may be found 

 many native brilliant flowers, and over which flourishes the live oak 

 with its parasitic moss, the cotton-wood, hackberry, and others native 

 to the clime. The country to the south along the Guadalupe is low 

 and level, while to the southeast it presents rolling wooded prairie. 

 Here the gulf breeze predominates. Indianola on the Gulf being but 27 

 miles distant, and makes the climate delightful. Here, as reported to 

 you in detail, I found the first brood of Aletia in all its stages, except 

 moth, though knowing the moth to be there by the freshness of the 

 eggs, unless all of that brood had perished. Mr. Anderson informed 

 me that previous to the appearance of the worm a number of the chrys- 

 alids had been plowed up, and that this was a matter of annual obser- 

 vation, and he had no doubt that the first brood of worms came from the 

 moths that issued from the chrysalids plowed up in March and April, 

 and that the worms often appeared as early as the 1st of April. 



Learning how early the old cotton-stalks often sprouted, the early 

 appearance of the worm, the mildness of their winters, the thermometer 

 never falling below 19 c F., the porous and loose character of their soil, 

 and as the boll -worm does not affect their cotton, and could not be mis- 

 taken in chrysalis for Aletia. it would seem highly probable that the 

 chrysalis would survive their short winter in that locality. Neverthe- 

 less, after the most diligent search I could not procure one, nor could I 

 rely sufficiently upon the accuracy of their knowledge of the chrysalis 

 to accept their statements as conclusive : and if the chrysalis did sur- 

 vive the winter up to the 1st of April. 1 was there too late, as all had 

 emerged as moths. 



I visited other places in the neighborhood, but this serves as a type 

 for all. 



Mr. Anderson had constructed under his supervision a machine for 

 spraying, that seemed to me to possess advantages over any other that. 

 J have seen, both as to its capacity to spray a larger area in a given 

 time and for cheapness. As he has promised to furnish me a draft I 

 will not attempt a description. I will here copy hifi recipe tor poisons; 



