The Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1???-1928, 1904-09-05

ANT NOT WANTED
Strong OppoSiiipJ TO Introduce
tim is Growing
COTTON GROWERS FEAR
ANT MAY BE AS DESTRUCTIVE AS
BOIL WEEVIL-UMWEL
COME iMPoRTATlONS
or THE PAST.

. The proposed use Of the kalen. 0
: Guatemaian ant to exterminate III
: Mexican cotton toll Yeeve Is arous
' ing great interest in the south, say
: a New Orleans dispatch to the New
4 York Sun.
\ The cotton crop wiz soon be read,
! 10 pick, aud its size depends upon tht
J extent Of the rayagea Of the boil wee
.. vii. Therefore, the matter affects no
the south alone, but every user of cot
. ION goods.
Thc pest IL likely to grow worse ant
/ GGse greater damage every year un
less some way is found to check it
ay1GCs. In spite of two boil weevil
! conventions the organization of boil
weeyil commissions in Texas, Louis,
lana and Mississippi, the liberal
Gums appropriated by these states and
| by the federal government for fight
ing the bell weevils, and the $4,000
prize for remedy offered by the
Texas legislature, no method Of get
ting ria of the destructive pest has
been found. At best, it has been
! possiblc to make certain suggestions.
I Whereby, at great expense and labor,
the amount OF damage caused by the
weeyil is reduced
From the start, vague hope has
been expressed that some other in
sect would be found that would kin
off the weavil Is the kalep to be the
dellYercr? The chronological bureau
and not the agricultural department
ny it is. and ask for a chance to
Gr2Ya H.
They Gave gone TO consiI erable ex-
pense to search the world over for al
enemy to the weevil, and declare that
they have at last found it in the
5uatemalan ant. They stand ready to
AXE var upon the cotton eater, but
he cotton people he .tata to commit
ihe ants 10 Ser fielis.
lie planters are Ike the European
39Eero in the Russian-Japanese war, |
who wanted to see the Japanese whip |
the Russians, but were afraid Of the |
complications the war would lead up |
to. Or perhaps they remember Their
Aesop. and the fable telling how the
secured man for her ally in the war !
With the stag Admitting that the |
talep viii do all that is expected OF X, |
nay not the ant itself prove a mere
dangerous peril than the WeeVil? TIL |
IS tne question the planters are ask
ing.
This las led to a very general dis.
cpssior in the Southern press of Am
erican and other Improvements on ma
'ure sad IT., results that have FOL
lowed The strong ST argument Il
iaYqr. q! tae .alep is the success OF
The eepaEinen oil agriculture in The
ialportaaon % lads bugs from Austria
ia as an gntidote Tor the San Jose
scale.
The latter pest had seriously IN.
fected the California orange crop. in.
'aded Texas ana was making It's way
coward Florida. when its ruinous
curse in the south was stopped by
he Australian lady bug The experi.
nent was great success. and no one {
las yet bad word for the Australian Z
'isitor. !
On the other hand, Senator Bailey /
4 Texas. Ross Clark OF Lavaca. the !
rader IN the fight against importing {
'entral American insects and turning :
hem loose On the community. and !
many other planters cite other expert. =
nents against the proposed expert. S
lent o
They call attention to the importa- v
on OF English sparrows for the pur. V
0se 81 getting rid of the worms ana
ugs in New York and to their spread n
i over the country. abandoning their +
lsectiyorous habits. driving out ma X
We birds and becoming very trouble. al
'me Themselves and great destroycrs g
, fruit 81
The mongOOse, imported into Jam
ca TO kill off the rats which injured OK
e sugar cane. performed that work ly
Iccessfully. but has since become ST
Il times the nuisance the rats were, in
r after killing off the rats. il took to al
ting spring chickens. Similarly, the ef
lglish rabbits imported into Austria Sc
have proved one of the greatest be
rses eli that island continent. So
The Importation Of water hyacinths nj
which came from the same country tn
the kalep.-has cost the South mil. up
ms OF dollars and put the federal co
vernment TO considerable expense sw
get Ri Of its growths. which have iie
ldered most of the Gulf streams un- all
vigable. Similarly. Bermuda grass. I'M
ported from the West Indies. mas
,rcased the cost Of cultivation IN i'm
, South 10 per cent, and cocoa fer
,ss has also ID led 10 the trouble an
J expense Of the farmers tie
Two IF the most troublesome plants Co
the Southern farmers were actual v
imported by the United States de- SUI
rtment Of agriculture and scatter
through the South before their
lgeroas character was discovered.
2 first and worst Of these was John bri