40 
JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY 
[Vol. 13 
cotton or fields of cotton a public menace, and authorizes the com¬ 
missioner of agriculture to exercise his authority in complete destruc¬ 
tion of such cotton or cotton plants. Immediately after the issuance 
of such proclamation steps are taken by state and federal officials in 
organizing clean-up gangs, whose work consists of the uprooting of all 
cotton plants and picking up of all waste cotton material and the 
destruction of all such plants and material by burning. Quarantines 
with these provisions were issued by the governor for zone 1 at Hearne 
in the spring of 1918; for zones 2 and 3 in the southeastern part of 
Texas in the spring of 1918, and for zones 5 and 6 in the western part 
of the state in the winter of 1918-19. 
Should it become necessary for the commissioner of agriculture to 
destroy cotton fields in which considerable cotton is still unpicked, 
the act provides for the appointment of an appraisal committee by 
the county judge of the county in which the infestations exist. 
This committee consists of three disinterested citizens, and their 
duty is to appraise, under oath, any cotton or cotton fields that must 
be destroyed. The appraisal report, approved by the county judge 
and certified to by the commissioner, upon the receipt of a certificate 
from the chief inspector in charge of the clean-up work that the fields 
and cotton have been destroyed, finally reaches the state comptroller 
whose duty it is to direct the State Treasurer to issue warrants to 
the growers for the amount due them on the cotton destroyed. Any 
grower who is not satisfied with the amount assessed by the appraisal 
committee has the right of appeal to any court of competent juris¬ 
diction. 
Unfortunately the state legislature did not set aside a specific sum 
of money by which such payments as called for above can be imme¬ 
diately paid. Steps are now being taken by the attorney general’s 
department of the state with a view of having all such claims paid 
without legislative action. 
The act also provides for the condemnation of cotton fields where 
a very light infestation of the pink bollworm exists. Under the pro¬ 
visions of this section the cotton is allowed to develop and is handled 
under specific directions of the commissioner of agriculture, is har¬ 
vested under certain rules and regulations, and is marketed under 
restrictions. This section also provides that any extra services ren¬ 
dered by the grower of a condemned field in safeguarding the cotton 
is entitled to compensation by the state for such services. It is fur¬ 
ther provided that the commissioner of agriculture shall proclaim rules 
and regulations covering the thorough destruction of all plants and for 
the cleaning of ground upon which infested cotton has grown, such 
rules and regulations shall also consist of directions for shipping cer- 
