Mississippi Democrat. (Carrollton, Miss.) 1844-18??, 1846-09-23
FROM THE wooDvILLE REPUBLICAN,.
The Cotton Worm.

ofthis insect in all is metamorphoses and !
varied stages of existence. Let every
one who can have, or make, opportunities, !
examine the egg, the caterpillar, the aure- =.
liza and the moth or butterfly, with view :
of discovering some method of destroying
this insect in some Of its stages of life, or
at leas: of preventing or diminishing its ra.
wages upon the labors of the planter. 1t is
with view of direct the attention of the
planter more forcibly TO the investiga-
ton that ! now write, for can throw
no light upon the subject at present, ha-
wing had no opportunity of studying the
habits Of the insect.
The following extract, from Rennie'S
Insect Architecture, Will no doubt interest
many ofyour readers:
at is somewhat startling to affirm that
the condition of the human race is serious
ly injured by these petty annoyances;
but it perfectly true that the art and indus
try Of man have not yet been able to over
come the collective force, the individual
perseverance, and the complicated machl-
merry of destruction which insects employ.
A small ant, according to q most careful
and philosophic observer; imposes almos;
invincible obstacles TO the progress of CIV
ilzation in many parts Of the equlnoctIal
zone. These animals devour paper and
parchment, they destroy every book ana
manuscript. Many provinces of Spanish
America cannot, in consequence, show
a written document of hundred years
existence. 'What Developments he adds
can the civilization of people assume;
| \ ko
with the past-ifthe repositories of hu.
man knowledge must be constantly renew
ed-if the monuments of genius and WIS
dom cannot be transmitted TO posterlty
Again, there are beetles which deposit
their larvae in trees in such formidable
numbers, that whole forests perish beyond
, remedy. The pines of the Hartz have
thus been destroyed to an enormous eX-
tent, and in North America, at one place
in South Carolina, at least ninety trees In
| every hundred, upon tract of two thou
sand acres, were swept away by small
: black, winged bug. Wilson, the historian
of American birds, says, "Would it be be-
q Ieyed that the lar8 of an insect or fly, no
larger than grain of rice, should silently
:. and in one season, destroy some thousand
f acres of pine trees, many of them, from
n two to three #. in diameter, and hun
4 dred and fifty feet high I? In some place;
;. the whole woods, as far as you can see
j. laround you, are dead, stripped of the bark
!. their -wintry- looking arms and trunks
q. bleaching in the sun, and tumbling in RUM
II before every blast" the subteroneous larva
. of some species of the beetle has otteI
II caused a complete failure Of the seed cor
y as in the district of Halle in 1872. IN
y. corn weevil, which extracts the flour tror
r. the grain, leaving the husk behind, WI
Mt destroy the contents Of the lnrgest store
houses in a very short period. The wire
IS worm and the turnip-f1y are dreaded b
he every farmer. The ravages of the locus
q. are too we'll known not 10 be at once re
- collected, as an example of the formldab
nd collective power of the insect race, III
v. white ants of tropical countries swee
ily away whole villages with as much CERTAIN
an ty as fire or inundation; and ships eve
m. have been destroyed by these indefatlg
bic republics. Our own docks and er
en- bankments have been threatened by SUI
we minute ravagers."
We Many in Mississippi have frequent
the marked the destruction of large quanttI
on of our pine trees in various parts OF @
,ng State by insects. And have thong
and that insects were the secret cause oil
inc almost determination of the chesnut frt
the many parts of this State, where fife
ND. wears ago it formed the principal grow
lch Ii was seen to die as if by some ePIden
the plague. Last year observed it W
de- still dying although the trees were rend
less ed solitary and alone, by the earlier fate
I'd their fellows. Now il is well known
every one how greatly the southern pl
ting interest is frequently injured by
;, N perforating worm and the army worm
.ns. On some plantations in this county
;g,, former have done nearly as much mt
y 10 the planter this season, as the la
and over other places, where it has swept
~ every particle of foliage and calyx II
~ 40 the cotton. These caterpillars make tt
g. visits more frequently than formerly,
e. pear earlier in the season, therefore,
wing more destructive, while they ext
their rayages to larger districts oil coun
10, Thus thew threaten in few years to br
and down and utterly destroy the Wnoie GO
eide interest of the South, unless the dili'
! bid planter discover some means to des
d moi them or prevent their ravages.
oces. there is a passage, in valuable work
efore lished a few months ago by the HarE
tive. of New York and entitled THE HIS
them of Silk, Cotton, Linen, Wool and
estal fbrous substances,n which states tina
g fair. Egyptians were compelled TO abandon
cultivation oil cotton more than twenty