The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-10-23
ages in Texas, and shows no evidence

ages in Texas, and shows no evidence
of abatement. Already thousands of
bales of cotton have been destroyed by
it,. But more alarming is the fact that
the pest is evidently spreading. with
great rapidity, and planters are bound
to see that, unless some new remedy
is found, it will not be long before
their cotton fields are rendered of no
value. ...~ t:. x. ~
The planters have done all in their
purpose. The ordinary remedies, such
as the application of chemical washes,
do no good. The reward Of $4,000
offered by the governor of Texas has
failed to bring forth any effective rem
edy. Congress last winter appropriated
the chronological bureau of the agri
cultural department in finding some
bug. bird or beast that would destroy
the weevil, but Chief Bugologist L. o.
| Howard has so far searched in vain.
The vegetable pathology division has
! been at work trying to breed a resist
ant strain, but their efforts take time,
! and it is still early to say what will be
| the results.
The loss in Texas from the weevil
and boil worm is estimated this sea-
son at a million bales, which is one
tenth of the entire American crop, and
represents q money value of something
like $32,000,000.
Besides Secretary Wilson, there will
me present at the congress on the 9th
! of next month, Professor L. o. How
ard Of the chronological department.,
Professor Galloway of the vegetable
industry department, Hermann Web
Der of the plant-breeding department.,
and several Others
ment." said Albert O. Woods Of the
plant industry bureau, will be the re-
ports on the breeding Of the resistant
variety of cotton. Mr.. Weber is now
in the field investigating the seasons
work. What he writes me is very en-
couraging Several of the selected
varieties have withstood the weevil,
and while fields of cotton right along
side were utterly destroyed, the gov
ernments selected variety is yielding
a normal crop. Some of the selections
made to resist the root rot have proved
to be resistant also to the weevil and
worm. Mr.. Weber has also been
breeding for an early ripening variety
as early ripening seems to escape the
pest In the beginning the expert
ments were primarily for the purpose
of introducing the Egyptian variety
other varieties and selecting the
| strains, to secure the variety which
would grow in our climate and soil
and possess the superior qualities OF
! the Egyptian cOLLOn. we nave, every
confidence that this object has beer
practically achieved. Mr.. Weber ha:
been working for several years, and Of
late has been fixing the strain; tina
. is, he has been working to get a strair
which will reproduce, from season t.
, season, the qualities of fiber, size
shape and, color which are desired
This is only accomplished by patien
J selection from year to year of thu
plants which have the proper charac
. teristics, and growing them by them
selves. But this work has proved ever
! more successful than was expected
and in a few months the department
is likely to have some valuable results
) to announce. The work Of breedin!
a resistant strain to the pests Which
have broken out in Texas was begun
later. Our department was successful
= several years ago in breeding strain
: which save the sea-island cotton from
, the root rot, and it is natural that tn
: growers should look to us again II
, an emergency like the present one
e The growers want the government t
: step in and stamp out the pest as
\ did the foot-and-mouth disease amoni
y CATTLE" .f&Es ss:
H. c. Stevens.