26 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, 1934 
machine. Its efficiency has been thoroughly tested, and it has proved to' be 
extremely useful in scouting activities, several of the infestations this season 
having been found b}^ means of this small machine. 
During the early part of the fiscal year the treating of cotton by steaming, in 
liea of fumigation, was developed by the Texas State Department of Agriculture. 
The equipment consists of a 25-horsepower upright boiler, together with a 
tube, having a capacity of one bale, and capable of withstanding 25 pounds 
pressure. Preliminary tests showed that worms could be killed to a depth of 3 
inches by a 1-minute exposure to steam under 15 pounds pressure, but in the 
commercial treatment of lint a 3-minute exposure is given, compression being- 
relied on to destroy all worms below the 3-inch depth. Only cotton from the 
heavily infested area is required to be fumigated, and as the amount involved is 
very small the charges are naturally rather high. It was to relieve farmers of 
this high cost that the State developed and operated two steam-pressure plants 
during the' season. 
CONTROL AND ERADICATION MEASURES 
The present measures enforced to control and prevent the spread of the pink 
boll worm from infested areas are (1) the disposal of gin trash, (2) sterilization of 
seed, (3) the supervision of oil mills, (4) fumigation, compression, steaming, and 
roller treatment of lint, (5) the establishment of a road station, and (6) cooperation 
with Mexico. 
The disposal of gin trash. — Practically all of the gins are equipped with cleaning 
machinery through which the cotton passes in the process of ginning. This ma- 
chinery removes a considerable amount of trash from the cotton, and in infested 
areas most of the pink bollworms present are discharged with it. The regulations 
require the daily disposal of this trash by burning, sterilization, or grinding. The 
Texas and New Mexico regulations require this daily disposal to December 1 of 
each year, the average date of killing frost being prior to this. In years when 
there was no killing frost before December 1, the ginners have always cooperated 
by continuing the daily disposal until a killing frost occurred. 
Seed sterilization. — Perhaps the most important single measure for controlling 
and preventing the spread of the pink bollworm is seed sterilization. All gins 
within the regulated areas are equipped with machines whereby the seed is heated 
to a temperature of 145° F. as a part of the continuous process of ginning. A 
thermograph is installed in the seed-heating machines so that the temperature of 
the seed is recorded at all times. During the past season 120 of these machines 
were in operation, and slightly over 90,000 tons of seed were heated. In addition, 
two special machines were operated to treat planting seed. This seed is held at 
a temperature of 145° for 1 hour, after which, with proper handling, it is per- 
mitted to move to any destination. Approximately 10 tons of planting seed were 
so treated. 
The supervision of oil mills. — As in past years the lack of oil mills in some 
sections of the regulated areas made it necessary to designate mills outside the 
area to handle quarantined seed. Some 10 mills were designated this season, in 
addition to the 14 mills inside the area. Approximately 64,000 tons of seed were 
crushed at these mills. Several of the mills are equipped with rollers for treating 
second-cut or mill-run linters, and 8,865 bales were so treated. 
Fumigation, compression, steaming, and roller treatment of lint. — Most of the 
regulated areas are now designated as lightly infested, and fumigation is not 
required; therefore, only 4 plants were operated during the season, at which 345 
bales of lint and 387 bales of linters were treated. At the seven compresses 
148,728 bales of lint and 2,762 bales of linters were treated. A number of gins in 
the lightly infested area are equipped with rollers, and 56,753 bales of lint and 
8,865 bales of linters were so treated. Most of this cotton was produced in the 
Salt River Valley of Arizona, and the two steam-pressure machines previously 
discussed treated 4,698 bales of lint. 
The establishment of a road station. — A road-inspection station, located V/i miles 
south of Marfa, Tex., at the junction of the Presidio and Ruidosa Roads, was 
operated to prevent the movement of infested material from the Big Bend area. 
This station was opened on September 1 and closed on December 31, after clean-up 
operations had been completed. During this period 3,682 cars were inspected 
and 49 confiscations made. The confiscations consisted principally of small lots 
of seed cotton, cottonseed, and lint; also 28 cotton-picking sacks were treated and 
passed. Of the 49 confiscations made, 20 were infested with the pink bollworm, 
122 living and 34 dead worms being found. No live specimens were found in 
seed that had been sterilized. 
