2d Session. 1 No. 463.

STUDY AND INVESTIGATION OF BOLL WEEVIL AND HOG CHOLERA PLAGUES.

LETTER

FROM

THE SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE,

TRANSMITTING

INFORMATION REGARDING THE STUDY AND INVESTIGATION OF THE BOLL WEEVIL AND HOG CHOLERA PLAGUES, AS DIRECTED IN HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 254, DATED SEPTEMBER 16, 1913.

DECEMBER 10, 1913.-Referred to the Committee on Agriculture and ordered to be printed.

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE,

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY, Washington, D. C., December 3, 1913. DEAR MR. SPEAKER: Complying with House Resolution No. 254, dated September 16, 1913, directing the Secretary of Agriculture to communicate to the House of Representatives a full report as to the methods used, results thus far secured, and the amount of money expended in the study and investigation of the boll weevil and hog cholera plagues, I have the honor to transmit the report called for herewith. This report consists of statements from the three bureaus of the Department which carried on the investigations in question; that is, the Bureau of Animal Industry on hog cholera and the bureaus of Plant Industry and Entomology on the boll weevil. Very respectfully,

The SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE.

D. F. HOUSTON, Secretary.

THE WORK OF THE BUREAU OF PLANT INDUSTRY IN CONNECTION WITH THE COTTON BOLL WEEVIL FROM 1904 TO 1913, INCLUSIVE.

The work of the Bureau of Plant Industry in connectlon with the boll wevil was begun in 1904 under the act of January 15 of that year making appropriations for the Department of Agricuiture, which

included an appropriation "to meet the emergency caused by the ravages of the Mexican cotton boll weevil and other insects and diseases affecting cotton. While the work incident to carrying out the intent of the act was distributed among several of the divisions of the bureau, the branches now known as Farmers' Cooperative Demonstration Work and Acclimatization and Adaptation of Crop Plants and Cotton Breeding were specially charged with carrying on the work. In the case of the former branch the primary objects of its work were to prove that cotton could be grown with profit notwithstanding the presence of the boll weevil and to persuade the growers to adopt the cultural methods and means of control necessary to that end, and in the case of the latter to produce better types of early maturing varieties of cotton, adapted to the soil and climatic conditions of the boll weevil infested territory, the planting of early maturing varieties being a factor of great importance in reducing the ravages of the weevil.

Work of the Office of Farmers' Cooperative Demonstrations.-Immediately after the passage of the act above referred to steps were taken to inaugurate the work, the first being the establishment of headquarters at Houston, Tex. The plan followed was to establish cotton culture or cotton demonstration farms. These consisted of from 5 to 25 acres, and were selected near the principal town in each county so that the cooperation of business men in furnishing seed and fertilizers could be secured. Arrangements were entered into with the owners of these farms whereby they agreed, in consideration of the seed and fertilizers furnished by the business men, to prepare and cultivate the land under the direction of the Department of Agriculture. After the first two or three years the plan of supplying seed and fertilizers was abandoned, and thereafter the farmers carried on the work without any compensation and with no guaranty on the part of the department except that they would receive full instruction through its agents. Other farmers who were willing to follow the methods as laid down by the department were enrolled as cooperators and instructions furnished them by mail. By the end of the year several hundred of these cotton-culture farms were established and several thousand cooperators enrolled. Supervision of the farms was exercised by the department's field agents, each agent covering a territory embracing from 8 to 15 counties.

During the years 1904 and 1905 the work was confined to Texas and Louisiana, but in 1906 it was carried into Arkansas and Oklahoma and inaugurated in Mississippi, Alabama, and Virginia, the plan being to carry it on in weevil-infested territory and in sections which the weevil was expected to reach within a year or two.

Realizing that the problem of meeting the ravages of the boll weevil embraced not only the growing of cotton, but also the question of making the farm self-supporting, the provisions of the act making appropriations were broadened for the work of the fiscal year 1906 so as to include diversification of crops and the improvement of crops by breeding and selection in the Southern States and subsequently to cover improved cultural methods and the study of cotton diseases, and the scope of the work was correspondingly broadened, demonstrations being made in the growing of corn, cowpeas, and other crops, and farmers encouraged to raise more and better live stock.

The county unit plan of organization adopted in 1908 and followed at the present time was inaugurated in 1907, local or county agents being appointed in one or two counties where local cooperation in paying the salaries of the agents was volunteered. Under this county unit plan the county agent establishes and supervises demonstration farms in each county and enlists as cooperators all other farmers who agree to follow the department's instructions.

The boys' corn clubs, now such an important factor in southern agriculture, and the girls' canning clubs, which are supervised by the department and financed by the general education board, were organized in 1907 and 1910, respectively. These two organizations have proved potent forces in promoting better methods of farming, diversification of crops, and the production of home supplies-all necessary factors in adapting southern agriculture to boll-weevil conditions.

By the close of the fiscal year 1913 the boll-weevil work had been enlarged so as to include Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, and a portion of Maryland, with a force of 932 agents and approximately 102,708 adult demonstrators and cooperators, 91,196 members of the boys' corn clubs, and 33,060 members of the girls' canning clubs.

The work begun in Mississippi, Alabama, and Virginia in 1906 was at first carried on under a cooperative arrangement with the general education board of New York, by the terms of which the board furnished the necessary funds, and the department supervised and controlled the work. Under similar arrangements the work was later taken up in the States farther east. The policy of the department in regard to the use of the Government appropriation and the appropriation by the general education board was to use the former for the work in the weevil-infested and adjoining States and the latter for the work in the cotton-growing States more remote from weevil infestation. As a result of this policy the work at the end of the past fiscal year was carried on with Government funds in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Florida, and south Georgia, and with the funds of the general education board in north Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and a portion of Maryland, the amount being $133,000.

The agricultural colleges and other educational forces in the States in which the work with boll weevil is in progress are in close cooperation with the department in carrying on demonstrations, and these, and the States, counties, boards of trade, agricultural associations, and private citizens contribute annually over $200,000 toward maintaining the agents and otherwise promoting the work.

Work of the Office of Acclimatization and Adaptation of Crop Plants and Cotton Breeding Investigations. As previously stated, the growing of early-maturing varieties of cotton is an important factor in controlling the boll weevil. With a view to meeting the urgent demand for such early-maturing varieties, which would at the same time produce large yields, large bolls, good length of staple, and other desirable characteristics, this branch inaugurated extensive breeding and selection experiments, establishing headquarters, with a wellequipped laboratory, at Waco, Tex. This work was begun in 1904 and continued until 1908. Through these experiments several valu

able varieties, having desirable characteristics, were secured and the seed of these varieties was distributed to farmers, and now these early-maturing, large-yielding, and large-boll cottons have almost entirely superseded the inferior types formerly grown in the bollweevil-infested territory.

This branch also studied cotton culture in weevil-infested districts in Mexico and Central America and discovered several new types of Upland cotton that afford partial protection against the weevil through specialized adaptive characters and habits of growth. As there had been no previous knowledge of the existence of such characters, the publication of these discoveries encouraged further investigation of the possibilities of utilizing them in the United States either by direct introduction of some of the best of the foreign types or by crossing with American Upland varieties. Some of the new tropical cottons behaved under their native conditions like early, productive Upland varieties, and yielded lint of excellent quality. Experimental plantings in Texas and other States showed that a period of acclimatization would be necessary before any final conclusion could be reached regarding the possibilities of the new types in the United States.

Since 1908 these investigations have been continued as a regular part of the investigations of this branch and are now yielding results of great practical importance. Four new types of cotton from Mexico and Guatemala have been acclimatized in the United States and are being improved by careful breeding of select strains. In addition to the specialized weevil resistant characters, the new varieties afford valuable combinations of characters everywhere recognized as most desirable for purposes of producing earliness, productiveness, large bolls, long fiber, and abundant lint.

One of these varieties, the Durango cotton from Mexico, has been widely distributed in the United States and received with much favor, and is coming to be recognized as the best early maturing variety of long staple Upland cotton now available. It is adapted to the widest range of natural conditions and is giving excellent results, even at the extremes of cotton culture in the Imperial Valley of California, at Norfolk, Va., and in the intervening regions. If its present promise is sustained this single variety will abundantly repay the entire cost of all the expenditures made by the department on account of the weevil investigations.

Another line of investigation suggested by facts learned in the study of the weevil-resisting adaptations of the cotton plant has led to the development of improved cultural methods of securing protection against weevil injury. These improvements are of two kinds, those that make it possible to grow in drier parts of the Southwest, where the climatic conditions are unfavorable for the propagation of the weevils, and those that make it possible to shorten the crop season. Such problems as the relation of drought to weevil resistance and the local adjustment of varieties to secure uniform behavior and large yields have been worked out. Several different factors have been found to contribute to earliness, which, as previously stated, is recognized as one of the most important means of avoiding weevil injury. At first it was supposed that earliness could be measured directly by dates of flowering and that only the early flowering varieties could be grown in weevil-infested regions, but experiments

have shown that the most effective form of earliness is the setting of the crop in the shortest period of time, and that big-bolled varieties can be used under weevil conditions.

A new application of great agricultural importance is based on the recognition of the fact that the cotton plant has two distinct kinds of branches. Experiments have shown that it is possible to control the habits of growth and secure increased earliness of the crop as well as larger yields by suppressing the vegetative branches, and methods of accomplishing these objects have been worked out. The results of experiments in different parts of the United States show that earlier crops and increased yields, in some cases to the extent of 50 per cent, are secured by the use of these improved methods.

Work of other branches of the bureau.-With the advent of the boll weevil practical means of controlling certain special diseases of cotton, particularly root rot and wilt, which cause great losses annually to growers, became an urgent necessity, and special studies and investigations of these diseases were therefore begun by the Office of Cotton and Truck Disease Investigations. This work was inaugurated in 1904 and continued until 1908. In the case of the root rot, careful laboratory investigations of the causative organisms and extensive field experiments were made with a view to securing immune cotton, determining the beneficial effect of the application of various chemicals, and discovering cultural methods of checking the disease. These investigations developed the fact that the only practical means of controlling the disease is through the practice of certain cultural methods, including deep fall plowing, thorough aeration of the soil, and rotation of crops.

Studies and investigations of wilt were carried on in Georgia and other Southern States, the primary object being to breed wiltresistant cotton of both the upland and long-staple varieties. Tests of great numbers of varieties were made for wilt resistance, and, as a final result of the work, two strains of wilt-resistant upland cotton were bred and the seed widely distributed, and these varieties are rapidly replacing others in the infested districts.

The San Antonio Farm, consisting of 125 acres, leased from the city of San Antonio, Tex., and conducted by the Office of Western Irrigation Agriculture, was established in 1904 as a part of the campaign against the boll weevil. Various studies and experiments relating to the production of cotton and the control of the boll weevil under semiarid conditions were conducted on this farm. The work demonstrated that profitable crops of cotton could be produced with very low rainfall, and that under average conditions, with good methods of tillage, excellent crops of cotton could be produced in this section every year.

During the fiscal year 1908 the Office of Forage Crop Investigations carried on some work in the South with a view to encouraging the greater use of winter legumes, especially crimson clover and vetch, and also some experimental work in testing soy beans for hay and as a seed crop in the South.

With a view to awakening interest in better methods of farming and encouraging the introduction of new crops and different types of farming in the Southern States as a means of combating the ravages of the weevil, the Office of Farm Management organized and conducted from 30 to 50 diversification farms, most of which