[64] REFORT 4, UNITED STATES ENTOMOLOGICAL COMMISSION. 
5. Cotton has been grown in this part of Brazil for as long a time as any other pro- 
duction, and it is also found growing wild. 
6. The prevailing direction of the wind during the months of March, April, June, 
and July is easterly, varying from northeast to southeast. 
7. I transmit herewith separately in a box the following specimens : 62 
(1) Cotton leaves with chrysalis of Xylina (Noctua). 
(2) Larvae, or caterpillar of the same insect, which changes from a green to a light- 
red color, formed by different colored lines running crossways, when it attains its full 
state of maturity. * The larger of these worms feeds upon the leaves; the small upon 
the buds of the cotton plant. 
(3) The butterfly of the same larvae. 
(4) Cotton buds destroyed by the moths containing the larvae and chrysalis, some 
of which have already been transformed into moths. 
(5) Several larvae of the same and one cotton bug. 
(6) Cocoons formed from cotton by the larva? in the interior of the buds. 
(7) Another species which preys upon the cotton seed inside the pod. 
(8) A drawing of the worm before its color changes. 
I have the honor to be, Sir, with high respect, vour obedient servant, 
RICH'D A. EDES, 
Consul. 
Hon. William Hunter, 
Second Assistant Secretary of State, Washington, D. C. 
No. 40. ] United States Commercial Agency, 
Maracaibo, February 18, 1880. 
Sir : In answer to your dispatch of October 13, 1879, requesting particulars about 
the cultivation of cotton in this country and the prevalence here of worms and other 
insects which attack the cotton plant, for the information of the Entomological Com- 
mission, I beg to state that having given the matter my careful attention, I am now 
enabled to answer the questions put in the document referred to, in their turn. 
1. Cotton has been grown in the State of Zulia, one of the sovereign States of the 
Republic of Venezuela, and more so in the neighborhood of Maracaibo, some ten or 
fifteen years ago. It was raised to a large extent in small as well as in large quanti- 
ties and everybody took to it. Some foreign houses advanced large sums to native 
growers in order to establish cotton for export. The quality produced was very good 
and sold well in America (the United States) and in Europe, but the revolutions which 
broke out caused whole crops to be lost, as they could not get hands enough to gather 
the cotton in time, aud the parties who had invested large sums in its cultivation got 
discouraged in consequence of the losses incurred, and gave it up entirely, and no 
one has ever made another attempt to raise it again. The general opinion was, and 
is still now, that it does not pay to raise cotton on a large scale, on account of the 
scarcity of labor available to gather in the crop in the proper time. This, however, 
is not the result of a paucity of population, but rather the consequence of a state of 
things which enables the laborers to live on so little, that the necessity to work con- 
tinuously, such as it is required for the profitable carrying on of a cotton property, 
ceases entirely under ordinary circumstances. They would only do so when driven 
by extreme necessity or induced by such disproportionately high wages as would raise 
the cost of growing the cotton beyond the possibility of making any profit. The 
wages referred to in those times were, in addition to the daily rations, which cannot 
be furnished for less than thirty cents per day for one man, $6.40 per month, making 
a total disbursement of $15.40 per month for the labor of one man, or about $20 of the 
money of the country. 
As the people of this country are naturally very slow to work, and cannot be in- 
duced to take task work, the maximum quantity of cotton picked by one man has 
been calculated never to exceed 100 pounds per day, which, at the prices for labor 
before mentioned, is out of all proportion to the price obtained for the cotton, and 
causes such an undertaking to prove a losing concern. The soil of this district is as 
favorable to the growth of cotton as the climate, which is rather dry, and there are 
two crops in the year, one in July and the other in December, the plants producing 
at both times in abundance. The land itself is of little value and the expenses are 
only those of cultivation. There were several large haciendas raising cotton in the 
neighborhood, but they are now lying waste and the machinery is rusting and spoil- 
ing. 
2. That the worst enemy of the cotton-plant is the caterpillar. There are two dis- 
tinct kinds. One is green and rather small aud the other kind has a green belly and 
a yellowish back with brown stripes. There is also a kind of ant, which injures the 
cotton-plant by making its nest under the roots, causing the stem to dry up entirely. 
