The Mississippi Creole. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1841-1851, 1850-10-12

which The appitcatloh o. 'elSH'o may W "UN
of as much importance as to agriculture. In
doing this, be has very beautifully illustrated
III, great cardinal and fundamental doctrine
of an enlightened political economy: " the
multiplication OF product and the subtraction
of labor.n / have read his communication
with great pleasure and profit. ] must, how
ever, note his %conclusi n, from which | am.
obliged 10 dissent as he says, " think it a
demOnstrable proposition, true in the animal
and vegetable kingdoms, true in every depart-
mont Of the works Of the creator, that the
worm will not attack a healthy body or a
healthy vegetable. Ifit does, il is an anoma>
ly--it is an exception to the general rule.
That the boil worm in cotton is the eonse-
quence Of the previously d~ecayed condition Of
The boil and form, rather than the precursor.
And that a knowledge and use of chemical
science may enable US to raise upon all our
lands, rich and poor, a healthy cotton plant,
50 that when we get to raise a healthy plant
uniformly, W will get rid Of the worm.p
would give a more complete analysis Of
this very interesting article, had | room; but
as he arrives at the above conclusion by tracing
a supposed course, this extract is quite sufi
cient SO show the supposed axiom laid down
in the article under examination. His first
and only argument, lhe alpha and omega of all
his reasoning on the subject, is founded upon
the belief that the worm will not attack a
healthy vegetable; consequently, the cotton
plant must be diseased. And, again, he says,
$ The true key to unfold this whole mystery
Of the worm, is 70 keep your plant healthy,
and while healthy it has an @gis around it.''
This opinion is wholly an error; and it will
not, | imagine, be very difficult to. show, that
the mere statement Of hypothesis, built upon
the assumPtitN Of the presence of a diseased
fluid in the growing plant, is not the cause Of
the evil, and is quite sufficient to relute itself,
if it were not for the fact that nine tentlis Of
our farmers know SO little about insect physi-
ology, To use a trite expression, " we have
made one step towards the removal Of an evil,
when we have come to a knowledge Of its true
cause or causes" Now, TO err, as to the cause
Of an evil, is to mistake the remedy. This, l
am sure he has done when he says, " that a
knowledge of the use Of chemical science may
enable US to raise upon all our lands, poor and
rich, a healthy cottoh plant, so that when we
get to raise a healthy plant uniformly, We shall
get rid Of the worm"
"Aswe must rely upon testimony for the
larger majority Of ~fac's,' | shall extract first
from the works of Henry and Spence, as they
say " Insects may be said without hyperbole,
10 have established a kind of universal empire
over the earth and it's inhabitants. This is
principally conspicuous in the injuries which
they occasion; for nothing in nature that pos
sesses animal or vegetable life, is safe from
their inroads." DR.. Duncan says, "we are
often led to asCribe the unhsal Illness and de.
cay Of plants to badness of soil, unlaVoruble
weather, and other causes, when in reality
they are produced entirely by insects" These
extracts out Of hupdreus that might be ad-
duced, if not su% ficient to prove, are r. duced
to certainty, when we attend TO the facts which
insects every day present to us, proving that
the very converse Of Mr.. Grayson's conclusion
must be regarded as nearer the truth, From
the moment the cotton plant emerges from the
soil, till killed by frost, it is exposed TO the
ravages of some insect. And their modes OF
living are so infinitely diversified as 70 enable
them to continue their depredatiOns in all he
different states of this plant-sO constantly
present are some of these insects. that in the
t%airest fields Of cotton in this county, | never
saw a single field entirely free from their raw
ages. Nor are thy confined alone to the cot
ton region Of the Uuted States, NJ. KennOn,
in his tour through the West Indies states, tina,
in 1889, two-thirds Of the crop Of cotton in
Crooked Island, was destroyed by the chimille,
Supposed to be a lepidapuraus ~lurva;) and the
%red-bug, an insect equally n%Oxious, stained it
SO much in some places as 10 render it Of little
or no value.
Now, I can have-but two motives for enter
ing into these tedious details, first: to show
the great Importance OF knowledge of insect
physiology, in connection with the cultivation
OF our principal staple-cottOn; and secondly,
because it is OF Importance to the spirit Of true
phiIosoPhizing to show what little argumen,
there often is between facts and many Of the
hypothesis which writer's Of the present day
are, from their determination to explain every
thing, led to PrOmulgate.
Having described this insect to you lin my
letter Of the Sd Of August,) under it's vari0u,
states of egg, lervO, pupa, and imogo or winged
moth, into which these are converted; | pro
coed to give you some of tue observ tons
have had an opportunity of making, Of which
in the paucity OF recorded facts IN the hitor
Of this insect, your readers may not be sorry I