The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-11-30

 start the selection of stock seed for future planting.
 InvestiEation of the Cotton Root-Rot.
 As feature of the work in Texas a, special effort has been made to ob- tain information as to the best meth ods of combating the cotton root-rot This disease has been very serious the past. season, destroying large areas of cotton In many portions of the State Eisorts have been made to secure re- sistant types. but so far the results obtained have not been very encour- aging, although some progress has been made. Experiments have been made for the purpose Of determining the value of soil treatments. seed treat ments, and other methods of combat ing this disease. including crop rota- tion. This work has just been start ed. and 1t Is too early yet to deter mine its value.
 The Mexican Cotton Boll weevfI.
 Congress originally provided $30.000 for the continuation of the investiga- tion of the boll weevil and the boil worm for the fiscal year.
 Demonstration Farms.
 Under this appropriation seven ex- Texas. located at Victoria, Wharton Austin. San Antonio. :. Calvert. Wills point. and Hetty. all together aggregat- ing 55S acres of cotton. The seven localities represented typical variations in soil and climatic conditions of Texas, and enabled the department to test various methods of controlling the boil weevil under different conditions. They included bottom lands, dry uplands subject to irrigation, the black prairie land of Austin, and the soils of river valleys where the presence of timber and moist climate and almost exclusive production of cotton renders the weevii problem more serious than elsewhere. Other farms were on the high, rolling prairie land and river bottoms of the northern part of the State.
 The minute investigation of the life history of the weeviI, upon the ,knowI- edge of which any system of control of the pest and any modification of the present cultural system must naturally be based, was continued at the labora- tory at Victoria. In the experimental fields attached to this laboratory also were tested poisons and machines. An expert assistant carried on a study of the weevil in Cuba, one of its native regions, with the hope of finding some effective parasite or some variety of cotton more resistant to its attacks.
 The exact spread of the boil weevil into new cotton regions was determin- ed. and a special investigation of the usefulness of birds in controlling the weevil was instituted. The result of the work of the season of 1903 Is sum- marked in three important publications issued by the bureau.
 Under the provisions of the special appropriation of $250,000 made availa- ble January IS, 1904, it was possible ito greatly enlarge the work.
 The number of experimental or demonstration farms was increased to thirteen for the season of 1904, aggre- gating LOTT acres. During the previ- ousi season in not one of the seven experimental farms then under opera- tion did the crop fall appreciably be- low the average production in the United States before the weeviI came into Texas, namely, about half a bale to the acre. The cultural system which these farms were designed to Illustrate has so far proved to be the only practicable means of controlling the boil weevil, and the work of past years has demonstrated its general suc- cess and feasibility. It is the out growth of several years of field experi- ments conducted by the Bureau of En- tomology in Texas. The cotton on these farms is planted under a contract which gives the department complete control Of the culture of the crop.
 Scientific and Laboratory Work.
 In addition to the conduct of these demonstration farms, the more purely scientific and laboratory work relating to the study of details of the life his- tory of the weevil and of the possibil- fty Of artificial propagation of para sites has been increased. Special work has been done In the attempt to erad- icate isolated colonies, to control the danger of dissemination of the weevil by the gins and gin products, notably cotton seed, and the perfecting of quarantine plans to check or prevent the spread of the weevil from Texas to other cotton-growing States.
 Cooperation With the Louisiana BoIl
 Weevil Commission.
 The weevil having already crossed the line into Louisiana, the Bureau of Entomology has been doing co-opera- tive work with the Louisiana Boil Wee vii Commission in eradicating colonies In Louisiana and preventing it's further spread into that State, with the idea of protecting not only Louisiana, but the more eastern cotton regions. The work of this year has been most suc- cessful so far as the experimental farms and other work in Texas are
 
 exterminate the weevil in Louisiana Its distribution in the western counties Of this State having become already too wide. Nevertheless its spread has been very greatly checked and by proper quarantine and exterminative work its eastern progress can be very much delayed.
 Colonization of the Guatemalan Ant
 The Guatemalan ant, which was dis covered by MT. O. F. Cook. botanist in charge of Investigations in tropi- cal agriculture of the Bureau of Plant Industry, and which seems to be a very efficient enemy of the cotton boil wee VII in Guatemala, has been the subject or careful experimental work, begun under the Bureau of Plant Industry and afterwards transferred to this of ice, but remaining under the charge of MT. Cook. This ant, determined by experts of the Bureau of Entomology as Ectatomma tuberculatum, Is a trop- ical species of rather wide distribution throughout Central America and north ern South America. Its specific hab- It's were unknown prior to It's discovery in Guatemala, but in this region, &C., cording to MT. Cook. 1t seems to be an important natural enemy of the boil weevil. Nearly a hundred colonies of this ant, representing some 4,000 indi- were conveyed to Texas and have during the summer been placed at different points, and are being made the subject of careful study to deter mine whether this ant offers any hope of control to any extent of the boil weevil under climatic conditions of Texas. The practical results of this