BUREAU OF ENTOMOLOGY AND PLANT QUARANTINE 87 
WILD COTTON ERADICATION 
A satisfactory season has been experienced in the program for 
eradication of the pink bollworm from southern Florida through 
the destruction of its host plant, wild cotton. During the season 
just brought to a close, some 22,000 less fruiting plants w^ere found 
throughout the area than during the previous season, and the per- 
centage of infestation now present on the plants being found was 
also greatly reduced. Owing to available manpower the wild cotton 
acreage was recleaned more times this season than during the pre- 
ceding year. In the Bradenton and Foil Myers subdistricts there 
was a considerable increase in the number of seedling plants found, 
and there was a slight increase in the Ten Thousand Island section. 
It is believed, however, that this situation was brought about by the 
clearing of shrubs and undergrowth from wild cotton lands during 
the previous season, which permitted air and sunlight to reach 
dormant wild cottonseed on the ground. 
During the past season all known wild cotton colonies were cleaned 
twice and a considerable portion of the area was cleaned 3 times; 
24.218 plants with mature fruit, 1,330.044 seedlings, and 4,427 sprout 
plants were destroyed from approximately 39,000 acres. In addition, 
32,791 acres were scouted and more than 3,000 trails were cut. which 
should greath' expedite future work. Funds to carry on the eradi- 
cation of wild cotton were provided through W. P. A. allotments, 
together with funds allocated by this Bureau, and during the past 
season a company of C. C. C. enrollees was made available to assist 
in carrying on the work. 
COOPERATIVE PINK BOLLWORM WORK, MEXICO 
The presence of pink bollworm infestation in areas of Mexico 
immediately adjacent to the cotton-growing areas in the United 
States has necessitated a cooperative arrangement with Mexican offi- 
cials in connection with the control of the pink bollworm along the 
United States-Mexico boundary line. Inspectors of the Division of 
Pink Bollworm Control and those of the Department of Agriculture 
of Mexico frequently confer and work out joint programs so that 
the control efforts of one agenc} T will not be nullified by failure to 
inaugurate a similar program in the other country. As a result of 
these cooperative arrangements, similar control measures are prac- 
ticed with respect to cottonseed sterilization, sanitation at the gins, 
and field clean-up measures in adjacent areas in the United States 
and Mexico. The effects of such cooperative arrangements have been 
especially beneficial in the lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas and 
Mexico, in the Big Bend region of Texas and Mexico, and in the 
Juarez-El Paso area. 
THURBERTA WEEVIL CONTROL 
The destruction of Thurberia plants in the Tortillita and Santa 
Catalina Mountains of southern Arizona was undertaken to prevent 
the spread of the Thurberia weevil, with which these plants were 
heavily infested, into adjacent dome c tic cotton plantings. During 
the year eradication work consisted of a recheck of these mountain 
ranges. Because of inadequate funds no equipment could be fur- 
nished for the maintenance of a camp in the mountains, as had been 
