The Port Gibson reveille. [volume] (Port Gibson, Miss.) 1890-current, 1909-02-04
The following is a summary o.

Ihe following - d SuththaAJ Va
an address to the Bi-State Farmers
Institute, Natchez. Miss, Novem-
Der as, 1908, by w. D. Hunter, in
charge of Southern Field Crop In
sect and Tick Investigation:
The planters in regions which
are about to be invaded by the boil
weevil, or in which the insect has
only recently made its appearance,
turn naturally to the State of Texas
for information regarding the
eventual damage the pest Will
cause. It is, therefore, important
to point out some of the ways in
which the insect has affected cot.
ton production in Texas. Statistics
of production that have been kept
for many years show that the aver
age production of lint per acre be-
fore the advent of the weevil was
40 bale. Since the invasion OF the,
weevil the average production per
acre has been IS bales. In other.
words. the insect has caused fall
ing off in production OF .o5 bale
per acre. This is IS pounds OF
lint per acre. At nine cents per
pound, this shows-a loss on each
acre Of cotton in Texas of S2.25s
The total area in cotton in Texas
has probably been in the neighbor-
hood OF ten million acres Cense-
uuently, these figures indicate
yearly loss in the entire State OF
over $22, 900, 900.
DIFFERENT CONDITIONS IN TEXAS
AND THE M1ssIssIPPI VALLEY.
1t is true that Texas has now
overcome, to a certain extent, the
rayaQes of the boil weevil. This
has been partly due to changes in
the method Of producing the staple
and also toethe development of tile
industry4in the drier western por-
tion of the State. where the climat-
Ir conditions give the boil weevil
much less opportunity for damage
than el>eW here. The important
point now is whether other regions
will he able to parallel the expert
ence of Texas As soon as we look
into the matter we find a number
of striking differences between the
conditions in Texas and other por-
tions of the Cotton Belt. We shall
compare more particularly Texas
conditions with those in Mississip-
ri, Louisiana and Arkansas. The
first conspicuous difference is the
much heavier precipitation in the
Mississippi Valley. The rainfall
in the Cotton Belt of Texas, as
determined by the average rainfall
of Paris, Dallas, Waco, and Col
lege Station, is 35.5 inches. The
average annual rainfall for Missis-
sippi, using the records for Green
vile, Yazoo City, Vicksburg and
Natchez, is 4e.5 inches. This is
an increase over the Texas rainfall
of fourteen inches, or considerably
more than an inch each month.
The Importance of-this comparison
Is that the heavy precipitation Is
most favorable to the weevil. The
seasons of the greatest rainfall are
those OF greatest weevil damage.
Even now the size of the crop in
Texas is practically measured by
the rainfall during the growing
seasons.
WHY wEEv1Ls ARE WORSE IN TIM
BERED SECTIONS.
Another important difference be
tween Texas and the Mississippi
Valley is that there is much more
timber in the latter regions. Prac
tically ali of the cotton planted II
the valley is on land cleared, more
or less recently. from the forest
The fields are greatly surrounded
by.tlmber. Therelare no large prairie
regions like those In Texas. 1t ha
been the invariable rule that tn
greatest damage by the weevil is Il
the vicinity of timber. This !
merely on account of the fact tha
the insects hibernate in the woods
On this account, the Mississippi
planter will have to contend -eacl
spring against many more weevil
than the Texas planters.