Roanoke Rapids herald. [volume] (Roanoke Rapids, N.C.) 1914-192?, 1919-10-24

u. !. ]. .. !. !. !.
~ EAltClllNG for 4 small
r--Y thin. ro>rt.nird ulmos
ri white caterpillar In 10,
600 acres of Texas cot
ton land confronted witt
N the necessity of mukin.
D certain thHl m MI that
area no single caterpillar
- made good IT, conceal
mtnt In boil or stalk OF
leaves or grass or ta>l forced 70
sweep every inch OF the 10000 ncreq
rs closely rs a ScrupulouS housewife
sweeps The Kitchen floor aud 70 Slft
every pint Of the >wecpinss rs care
fully gS q mlScr would silt dirt with
gold nuggets IN It there i a task be-
side which the one of searching for a
needle IN haySmck appears simple
and rs requiring no patience worth
mentioning.
liut tlut j. exactly what the United
States department Of agriculture with
the help of The state authorities Of
Texas did IN tie campaign for the
elimination Of the pink bollworm Of
cotton Il was done 50 successfully
That not a single egg larva. or moth
Of The pink bollworm appeared ln 1918,
q ro~uir that appear> 70 Justify the
characterization Of llo fob rs the big
co~t successful cntomolosicnl expert
mont % II, Kind III history.
Wien II was first found that the
pink holvurm or cotton had gained
a footing upon the soil If Tie Emitted
states. the CONSERVATION tha, resulted
was hardly lesS than II would have
been # the discovery had been made
that German sunhoatS we're coming up
The Mississippi river But the con
stcruatlon WAS among agricultural
scientists. The general public al not
know the desperate danger. The sclen-
lists knew, however. that, unless
checked, the little bollworm meant m
annual loss Of not less than $4,000
GOO, r. indeed. II did not threaten the
existence Of the cotton industry. and
their alarm was not materially less
encd because the infested area was
limited 10 small areas around Trinity
Bay, Beaumont and IIearne, Texas.
For The pink bollworm spreads. not
by yards or acres, but by hundreds of
miles II a leap. The chief agent of F
dissemination being man with his rail. +
'nud trains the distance from Texas .
% Georgia or North Carolina Is no
Teat jump, and Il probably would not
20 direct jump. The larva would .
NJ loaded into a ear Of cotton at Beau
mont, say, shipped to New Bedford.
Mass, and left In the litter nj the
,attom Of the chr, which would then
70 to Brockton for load Of shoes
consigned 10 Atlanta and would final
y get swept out on some siding in the
ieorgla cotton fields.
And there II would begin anew the
devastation that II has wrought In
egypt. India, japan. the Philippines,
'eylon, the Straits Settlements. the
Islands, Brazil Mexico. and
every cotton-growng conn.
nv on the globe except the United
tates. II Is the most destructive of
Il enemies Of cotton often reducing
he yield of lint by 30 per cent and
ometlmes by more than 50 per cent.
nd greatly lessening the quantity Of
Il produced from the seed. In the
hawaiian Islands the cotton industry
ms been practically abandoned he.
ause Of II, and wherever II has gone
ne industry has suffered terribly.
hat is why the department Of agrl-
alture. when the worm appeared IN
eXaS. thought It worth while to I'M.
ortake n campaign out Of all proper
on to the area infested.