COTTON INSECTS. There are a great many insects that do injury to cotton, among them the cotton worm, the bud worm, the bollworm, the yellow bear, the io, and the bogworm. Perhaps the most injurious of these is the cotton worm, the ravages of which first began to be noticed in the United States early in the last century. The insect is the larva of a nocturnal moth, and is thought to have had its origin in South America. Its de structions have sometimes covered whole districts, a Government report of 1879 estimating the loss due to its despolia tions as averaging nearly $20,000,000 each season. The moth makes its jour neys during the night and deposits eggs on the leaves of the cotton plant, the hatching taking place at the end of a couple of nights. The caterpillars then begin their ravages, eating up the leaves and passing from one district to an other. Following a period of about six teen days the caterpillar begins to enter the chrysalis stage, following which the female moth begins to lay eggs totaling into hundreds during the season. The generations sometimes amount to seven in a season in districts favorable to the insect, about four weeks separating one generation from another. Following the
cotton worm, the budworm appears to approach next in destructiveness. It re sembles the cotton insect in its various stages, being hatched ou the plant and living largely on flowers and bolls. It breeds in the winter as well as in the summer, the first three generations liv ing chiefly in the cornfield, the fourth generation making its appearance on the cotton plant. Beetles, fleas, and bugs of various kinds are also apt to do damage to the plant. The capsid or cotton flea is a cause of apprehension in some dis tricts. The red bug or stainer is apt to have an injurious effect on the cotton fiber, not only sucking the sap from the bolls, but ejecting also a liquid which leaves an indelible stain, greatly lower value of the fiber. Continued ex periment has resulted in the discovery of methods of counteracting the destruc tive power of the varieties of cotton in sects, and these, aided by their natural enemies, tend to lessen the damage each successive season.