The Louisiana cotton-boll. [volume] (Vermilionville [i.e. Lafayette], Attakapas, La.) 1872-1883, 1873-06-18
Agricultural.
H COTTON o R


ES va VIA"
by PROFESSOR CHAs. V. RILEY.
Tread at the Second Annual Session of National Aq
r]icultural Congress
Gentlemen Of The National agricultural Con,
gresS:
1t was my pleasure, well nigh a yeal
ago, to be with you at your organiza,
ton in the city from which I hail. Few
things were more characteristic of that
reunion of the friends of Agriculture
from different parts of our broad land,
than the large representation from the
South, and the mutual goodwill and
the cordial fellowship which reigned
on all sides. There was manifested a
due appreciation of science in the hon
or paid to one who did much to make
us masters of the clements, and whom
we all sorrow for as having since left
us for that world which knows no Sec
tional strife nor brotherly feud. There
was also manifested a strong desire to
profit by one another's experiences,
and it is for these reasons that 1 am
led to offer, to the members of the
South, q suggestion which may prove
of little service, or, per contra, of the
utmost value.
gave you last year some idea of the
immense sums which the farmers of
this country lose by insect depreda-
tons, and it is unnecessary here to en-
large upon the subject. You, Us cotton
growers, are well enough aware of these
ravages, for in q single fortnight last
summer, one single species-the Cot
ton-worm-ate up something like twen-
ty million dollars worth of cotton for
you.
Some of the Northern States have
been sufficiently wise and provident as
to appoint officers whose duty it is to
study these insect pests, and suggest
remedies for their ravages 4; but in the
South, no such officers yet exist. You
are, in consequence, entirely at the
mercy of this apparently insignificant
worm and it is a matter of surprise
that, where the losses are SO heavy,
efforts have not been made to get
the mastery over the pest by delegating
some individual or commission to make
thorough Investigations and expert
ments upon it. Up to the present time,
20 really practicable remedy has been
discovered. Manipulating is not whole
sale enough. Fires, lights, and traps
containing attractive but poisonous
sweets, together with all other devices,
Intended to allure and destroy the pa.
'ent moths, are of little use except
where they can be generally employed
throughout whole districts-and this
IMPLIES an amount of intelligence, or
'anization and unity of purpose rarely,
ever, found in any farming communi-
J. Carbolic soap has failed to fulfill
he hopes and prophecies of its advo-
ates. Now, it has never been my for
une to experiment in a cotton field, but
rom my experience with insecticides
I other fields, / feel quite assured that
y a proper use of Paris green, the Cot
may be mastered.
In the so-oalled Northwestern Statss,
you II doubtless aware, we have
sorely troubled, during the past
acade, by the Colorado Po~tato-beetle =
10-Lineata), an insect which
fects the potato very much in the =
me way as the Cotton-worm affects =
10 cotton plant but from which it is @
likely that you of the South will !,
suffer. We manage to subdue and .,
fly it by a proper use of the mineral !,
antioned, and from my experience up =
the leaf-devouring worms, many of !,
belonging tothe same family as ;.
Iur c~otton-worm, ! am satisfied that 4
is last viii succumb TO the mixture i
oppose, even more readily than does Vi
q Potato-beetle. -,
Paris green, or Scheele's green. con N
ms a varied proportion of -arsenions ,
id, and is a deadly poison: but .ho
.1ner in which it may be used 4 :
lnteract the Cotton-worm. repdo,.
perfectly harmless. If the green is
which can generally be ascertain I'm
by the brightness and intensity Of Al
color, it may be mixed with 30 parts IN
-four, plaster, Stacked lime, or ashes. de
| still be thoroughly enectual. The Be
1t possible busting Of this mixture iIy
m the plants will be the means of o.,
troying all the worms upon them. da
hout the least injury to the plants an,
mselyes. The green should never or
{ more than twenty-five cents per or
md, at wholesale, and thirty pounds oft
he mixture viii suffice for several The
Is. 1t is best busted on to the plants