THE PINK BOLLWOEM 
15 
On the basis of the foregoing data the loss for the crop of 1919 
was calculated at 20.89 per cent. In 1920 a similar estimate showed 
a total loss of approximately 38 per cent of the crop. 
In 1921 the quantity of nonpickable cotton was calculated at 12.8 
per cent, and in 1922 at 7.97 per cent. The losses through shedding 
and other causes were not estimated for these years. On account 
of the high price of cotton in both years, the fields were undoubtedly 
picked cleaner than usual. It is therefore probable that the actual 
losses were not materially lower than in other seasons. 
In 1923 the loss was calculated at 16 per cent. Because of peculiar 
conditions, including a lack of rains during the growing season, 
it was evident that the damage was less than normal. 
A study of the damage in the Laguna by expert statisticians was 
conducted by H. H. Schutz and E. S. Haskell, of the Bureau of 
Agricultural Economics. The following is quoted from their re- 
port : 
Estimated losses to cotton crops caused by cotton pink bollworm, 
trict, Mexico, 1915-1921 
Laguna dis- 
Year 
Number 
of 
records 
or esti- 
mates 
Average 
loss 
Range of 
losses 
Year 
Number 
of 
records 
or esti- 
mates 
Average 
loss 
Range of 
losses 
1915 
6 
6 
9 
20 
Per cent 
25.0 
25.0 
22.1 
20.2 
Per cent 
5 to 50 
5 to 40 
5 to 60 
to 40 
1919 
27 
36 
39 
Per cent 
19.0 
30.4 
22.4 
Per cent 
2 to 50 
1916 
1920 
4 to 70 
1917 
1921... 
3 to 70 
1918 
Average 
23.4 
It was stated by the Laguna planters that formerly practically all cotton 
made before the first killing frost in the fall was No. 1 (good, middling, or 
better), and that picked later was No. 2 or No. 3, with but a small difference 
in the prices of the first two grades ; however, the difference in price now 
runs at times as high as 11 cents per pound, depending upon the percentage 
of pink bollworm infestation. 
On account of the number of breaks and loss of time in retying the ends, 
some of the spinners dislike to use late-picked Laguna cotton. Mauro de la 
Peila, manager of the Fabric La Fe Torreon, made tests with normal lint, 
and lint injured by the pink bollworm. Using a standard English dynamometer, 
the lint having been spun into 120-yards lengths of No. 18 thread, the normal 
cotton showed a resistance of 92 pounds, whereas the damaged, in three tests, 
offered resistance of 68, 75 and 72 pounds. 
It is thought that from September, 1918, to August, 1919, the seed produced 
in the Laguna suffered no appreciable loss in weight, but in the following 
season 15 to 50 per cent of the seed was practically barren ; this was particu- 
larly true of all but the early seed. The quantity and quality of oil produced 
is naturally proportional to the quantity and quality of seed produced. The 
percentage of undeveloped and worm-eaten seed in the late picking causes a 
reduction in the quality as well as the quantity of oil. The resulting oil is 
darker, and more residue remains in the process of refining : the cake is dark 
and carries an odor offensive enough to affect the animals to which it is fed. 
One oil-mill operator estimates that the percentage of oil normally averages 
17, that of cake 44, and that of hulls 35 : and that the loss in oil from seed of 
the 1919-20 season was 0.5 point, and that for the following season 1 point. 
Another oil mill reports that the percentage of oil was formerly 16, but that 
now, because of injury caused by the pink bollworm, it is but 13 Vj- He 
also states that even the first or early picking yields but 15 per cent of oil, and 
that this is appreciably infested ; further, that 25 to 30 per cent of the seed pro- 
duced late in the season is almost worthless, and yields only 10 to 11 per cent 
