The Bolivar County Democrat. (Rosedale, Miss.) 1887-1969, 1914-12-05


be remembered that Mr.. Scott call
ed the attention of DR.. Owens to
the threatened invasion of the pink
boil worm and has taken an active
interest in keeping it out of this
country. The decision of the De-
partment Of Agriculture in the
matter will. be found below. 1t
will be hoped that the precautions
mentioned may be sufficient. II
not some other steps must be taken.
November II, 1914.
Mr.; Charles Scott,
Rosedale, Miss.
Enclosed am sending to you the
original copy of the report le-
ceived. under date Of November
10Th, from the United States De
partment of Agriculture on the
request for information concerning
the activities OF the government III
its quarantines against the pink
boil worm. We will keep In di-
rect touch with the federal horti-
cultural board and viii inform you
of any new developments.
Sincerely,
CLARENCE j. OWNS,
A1anagidg Director,
November 10, 1o IA.
Dr. Clarence ]. Ovens.
Dear Sir:
Your letter of November 13 re-
garding the pink boil worm OF cot
ton has been received The first step
taken by the Department to guard
against the introduction of the pink
boil worm was quarntine against
cotton seed FROM all foreign coun.
tries. This quarantine has been
in effect for more than a year,and
has been enforced vigorously.
It came to our attention after
the quarantine to which reference
has heen made was promulgated
that some seeds infested by the pink
boil worm come to this country in
bales of lint from Egypt. In ex-
amining the picker wastefrom forty
seven bales it was found that an
average Of over six hundred seeds
ner hale were being brought in this
way. A comparatively smallinum-
ber were infested but there was a
sufficient infestation to constitute
some danger. AS soon as this
discovery was made the Federal
horticultural Board called pub
lie hearing to consider means of
avoiding the new danger. 1t was
proposed by the Department that
the most feasible method would
be to restrict the use of Egyptian
cotton to northern mills, Since
only about Eve thousand OF the Que
hundred and ninety thousand bales
lof Egyptian cotton brought 10 this
country are consumed i'll southern
mills it did not appear that such a
restriction as was proposed would
cause any special hardship. Strong
objections were made, however,
by r. pre- sentatives of southern mills
and it appeared from the testimony
that the business of certain mills
would be seriously affected. The
representatives OF mills, aud the
officers Of the National Association
of Cotton Manufacturers present
ed the alternative of having all
picker waste burned as it accumu-
liates. The Association has beer
extremely active in bringing about
the general agreement on the part
of the spinners to follow this course
ana the Department has sent in
spectors 10 various mills in the
Sonth,to see whether the agreement
has beef observed, In all cases II
has been found that the picker
waste has been destroyed conscien-
tiously.
Very recently it has developed
there is still some danger arising
from the fact that Egyptian cotton
after being opened is kepl for soms
time before it is run through the
cleaners. Where this is done III
the vicinity Of cotton FIELDS there
lis an opportunity for the introluc'
ton of The pink boil worm.
The Horticultural Board now has
underway an investigation to deter
mine whether it is possible to treat
the bales of Egyptian cotton in some
way to destroy the insects that may
lbe contained as soon as they ar,
five in thi, country, The Board
lie also investigating devices thai
may be used on gins to p'eve IT
seed from becoming mixed WIN
| the lint. If there is any d hnite
outcome from this Investigator
1the results will be presented to the
Egy ptian Government.
As far as l am aware no spe.
cial legislation on the pink boil
worm wils be proposed in CONGRESS
| The Federal Horticultural Board
Ihas full authority to deaf with the
| matter, and it only remains for the
poard to devise some feasible means