76 
AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 
In a very interesting communication from Mr. E. N. Fuller of 
E'hsto Island, South Carolina, he describes the depredations of the 
caterpillar in lus neighborhood as follows : 
t;nnJ n f 1 + 8 i 40 ’u I m iSCOVCre i their rava o es > confined to the luxuriant por- 
tions of the fields near the seacoast of this Island. The larva; were 
destroyed in the latter part of September. In 1843, they were first 
leard of by the 1st of September, when their ravages, limited as in 
1840, were quite perceptible at some distance. A frost on the 18th of 
that month probably destroyed them. In 1846, they appeared on the 
20 th of July; and by the 10th of September, I suppose there was 
scarcely a cotton leaf or any tender portion of the plants remaining 
and the worms not fully grown deserted the ravaged fields in millions 
in search of food, failing to find which they died from starvation The 
?Q 0 ^ 0 !i thl8 x l8la ?, d Was about 40 P er cent - of an average one. In 
184J, the caterpillars made their first appearance on the 22d of Au- 
gust ; their ravages this year, being confined to the low spots, caused 
no injury of moment. In 1852, they were found on the 10th of Au- 
omi*’ "A?* 40 mi 68 t0 , the southward, and on this Island about the 
20th of the same month. They disappeared here, however, without 
doing injury. ’ 
i o« Thl i . 8 the / haVG a PP eared at regular intervals of three years. In 
18 °e, when they were again looked for, an intense drought from the 
early part of July was sufficient to prevent their increase, had they 
made their appearance. The old planters say that, in 1804 and in 
years appeared as in 1846 ; that is > in Periods of twenty-one 
c ‘A 8 ” ear a ? 4 , can .l^dge, not having made any record, the length 
o time from the hatching of the egg to the chrysalis is twelve days * 
remaining four days in the chrysalis state and six days more to the 
hatching of the egg. This seems to be the case in a season of mois- 
slow ' ieat ; without which, their progress would probably be more 
Among the many remedies recommended for this fly, or moth, fires 
and lights in the fields have been highly spoken of as attracting 
ami destroying the miller. But even this may have its disadvantages 
as Colonel Whitner, who has tried it, states that “ it not only 
attracts the flies from other plantations, but that multitudes of moths 
perished in the flames.” An article likewise appeared in some of the 
Southern papers, not long since, recommending white cotton flags 
about a yard square, to be placed in the field, by which the moths 
are attracted, and upon which they deposit their eggs. Plates similar 
to those recommended for the boll-worm have also been used with 
partial success. But, to destroy this pest, it will be necessary to as- 
certain exactly the date of the appearance of the first moths, and then 
to exterminate them in the best manner, and as quickly as possible 
Could not some favorite aliment be found on which the moth prefers 
to feed, as in the case of the tobacco-fly, and then poison them with 
some effective agent P This would at once rid the fields of the first 
broods of moths, the progeny of which, in the second and third gene- 
rations, might devastate half the fertile plantations of the South 
