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[Since we commenced investigating the question of "ITow to destroy the Cotton 

 "Worm? " we have received a copy of a pamphlet, which we think so appropi late, that we 

 present it entire to our readers.] 



THE COTTON WORM. 



The cottou plant fiirnislies food for mauj^ insects. More tlian one dozen 

 are enumerated, classified and described in the works of entomologists . 

 Most of these insects are harmless, or very nearly so. Two alone are 

 regarded as destructive ; of these one is so devastating as to acquire the 

 names of the " cotton army worm," " the cotton caterpillar," " the cotton 

 worm {Noctua zylina).'' This little insect comes like an army of destroying 

 angels. It comes almost as suddenly as a thief in the night. The planter 

 who retired to dreams of plenty and content, rises to behold the vanguard 

 of destruction. He wakes to witness the disappointment of his hopes, the 

 devastation of all for which he has labored. The work of one year and the 

 comforts of the next are devoured by this worm in a week, and where 

 there were hopes of plenty, there is the sorrow of want. This to the planter. 

 The merchant, the tradesman, and the manufacturer, all suffer because of 

 the insatiate maw of this little monster. The cotton worm can, with his 

 feeble strength, stop the mills of Manchester. When he eats, the opera- 

 tives of England and the planters of America want. There are no data by 

 which the actual amount of his destruction can bo measured. The estimate 

 is that in some seasons he has destroyed as much as twenty millions of 

 dollars' worth of growing cotton. It is our business to make known the 

 means whereby this enemy may be destroyed, and the calamity it entails 

 averted. 



ITS HISTORY. 



Solomon has said that there is nothing new under the sun ; but if the cotton 

 worm is older than the nineteenth century our modern Solomons knew 

 nothing of it. Dr. Cuper's authority says, that the first appearance of 

 these worms as destroyers of cotton was in the year 1800, and that in 1804 

 the crops were almost destroyed by them. Happily a snow-storm occurred 

 during the following winter, and they were almost entirely destroyed. It 

 required a number of years before they became so numerous as to be very 

 destructive. 



In 1825, they are said to have been again destroyed by a storm, but this 

 is somewhat doubtful, as during the next year they were very destructive. 



The worm does not appear in all portions of the cotton-growing district 

 during the season, nor are his visits made with any degree of regularity. 



It is probable that a moist season has much to do with developing the 

 eggs that were laid by the fly which has survived from the previous year. 



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