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Ravages of theWeevilC
|1 All the World Deeply
, Interested in the
Prospective Extermina
tion of the Ravaging
Pest of the Cotton Belt
r M IHE most momentous battle in the his-
I tory of the United States is about to
be fought under the direction of the.
department of Agriculture.
In it armies of millions upon millions of
little red ants will be pitted against millions
upon millions of destructive beetles. If the
ants win, half of the American cotton crop,
valued at $500,000,000 a year, and already
seriously damaged, will be saved. If they lose
the cotton industry of the country will sustain
a paralyzing blow.
The magnitude and importance of thU
combat may be imagined when it is realized
that the boll weevils, as the beetles are known,
destroyed in Texas alone last year $50,000,
--000 worth of cotton, traveling east and north
with amazing rapidity, leaving destruction in
their trail.
If the progress of this bettle is not
stayed he soon will have established himself in
coery section of the cotton belt. He defies
birds and toads; he laughs at poison — he
really fears only one enemy, the little red
ant of Guatemala* he is so soon to meet.
ENTOMOLOGISTS from Washington came
upon this ant while seeking a reason for
the thrift of cotton grown by Indians in
Guatemala. They soon ascertained th t
the busy little insect was a deadly enemy of the
boll weevil, and more than a match for him in bat
tle. The Indians called this particular ant "kelep"
—a name not applied to any other species—and also
referred to it as the "ant of the cotton." Now the
Department of Agriculture is arranging to intro
duce colonies of these ants into Texas, and to en
courage them to make themselves at home, and work
their way north, and, if possible, to the east of the
Mississippi river, - ad thus stop the destruction of
the cotton crops.
PEST HAS BEEN DESTROYING
HALF Or THE COTTON CROP
THE importance of the discovery of this insect
may be appreciated when one considers that
the weevil is the most serious menace that ever has
beset cotton planters in America. Indeed, it well
may be regarded as the most dangerous blight that
has threatened the agricultural industry of any
nation.
About $500,000,000 worth of cotton is now pro
duced in the Southern States annually. If the
advance North and East of the boll weevil, which
has ravaged Texas, is not stopped, there will, within
a few years, be an annual loss of half the crop—
$250,000,000.
During the last three years the "pest has cut in
half the cotton harvest of ten counties in Texas.
In several instances plantations have been so thor
• oughly devastated that their proprietors were about
to give them up in despair, and are even now
prevented from doing so only by assurances from
entomologists employed by the Federal govern
ment that the new remedy will prove efficacious—
that while a cotton plant remains there is ground
for hope, and that in a few years the fields will
again be flourishing.
So this red ant of Guatemala may be said to be
worth a quarter of a billion dollars a year to the
cotton section—ta the nation, for the United States
exports more than $400,000,000 worth of cotton,
four-fifths of the value of the Southern output each
year, and the demands of foreign countries are con
stantly increasing.
A RECENT ARRIVAL WHICH
DID NOT INSPIRE FEAR
1 T WAS in 1894 that the United States govern
* ftent's attention first was brought to the de
struction of the boll weevil, and the possibility of
its ravages.
The ablest entomologists of the Department -*f
Agriculture busied themselves immeuiately in
studying the bug. It is a beetle, and they found
that it came from Mexico. A single pair of we~7ils,
it was determined, multiplies into millions in one
season.
The weevil is from one-eighth to one-third of an
inch long, and from one-twenty-fifth to o: --eighth
in breadth at the middle of the body.
It bores into the ootton ball and feeds on the
fibre, especially eating up the heart of the flower.
The female tunnels in, finds an adequate plaoe
for her offspring to grow, and deposits her egg.
This hatches a larva, which develops at the expense
of the cotton boll. As soon as the weevil is matured
it manifests a habit of feigning death, as if it knew
ita guilt.
This interesting habit is its resort as a means of
escape from its larger enemies. It hps been the
basis of many machines designed to jar them from
the plants and to collect them in convenient recep
tacles. If jarred from the plant, the weevil falls to
the ground, with its legs drawn up closely against
the body and the antennae retracted against the
snout, which is brought inward toward the legs.
In this position it often remains motionless for a
considerable time. If further disturbed, so that it
finds that its ruse ha* failed, it will start up quickly,
run a little way, and again fall over, feigning death.*
The color of the weevil so closely resembles that of
the ground that it is quite difficult to find a fallen
individual so long as it remains quiet. If left tin
disturbed until ft believes danger to be past, it re
covers its footing and returns to the plant.
That is to say, it gets up on the tree again
Yet the experts sent to investigate did not
seem to foresee the danger from the weevil to the
South. Even the planters in Texas were not
alarmed, though they were anxious, however, to ob
tain scientific data regarding the new-comer. They
THE ST. PAUL GLOBE. SUNDAY. JUNE 26, 1904
knew all about ordinary bugs, but this* weevil thing
worried them a bit.
Years want by. The weevil family increased.
First one county in Texas lost part of its crop.
Next year a similar report came from an adjoining
county. The third year brought hard luck stories
from planters in a number of counties. The weevil
was marching north. The planters became anxious.
At Washington the pest came to be a \o] ie of seri
ous moment. And, finally, when the cotton report
for 1902 oame in, the astonishing loss of more than
$10,000,000, all due to the boll weevil* was found.
THOUSANDS SPENT INVESTIGATING
THE HABITS OF THE PEST
pAVOBABLE reception by the planters of Texas
* of the experimental field work conducted by
the Department of Agrioulture, brought about an
enlarged government appropriation for the work of
1904. By enactment, which became effective on the
4th of March, $80,000 waa placed at the disposal of
the division of entomology.
Seven experimental farms, aggregating 558 acres,
were accordingly established in many . distinct
cotton districts in Texas. Despite generally very
unfavorable conditions, the results of this experi
mental work demonstrated many important points
as to the origin, life history, habits and exact
amount of destructiveness of a good-sized weevil
and his multitudinary offspring.
AN ADROIT AND BUSINESS-LIKE
** WAR WAGED BY THE ANTS
A IX this array of scientific data did not, how
<** ever, stop th» forward march of the pest.
And then—presto!—the Washington students
came upon the idea from Guatemala. Why should
cotton be gTown successfully down there, in the
very home of the boll weevil ?
The Secretary of Agriculture forthwith dis
patched Mr. O. F. Oook to the scene to investigate.
He found the weevil present and able to .njure the
cotton, but prevented from doing so by a little,
though vicious, reddish brown ant. The ant pa
tronized the cotton tree for nectar food, but did not
injure the boll in any way. Whenever the ant
caught sight of a weevil, Mr. Cook discoverer he
made for him instantly. Grasping the weevil round
the middle with his mandibles he pried apart the
joint between the thorax and abdomen. Then he
bent his long, flexible body in a circle and stung the
weevil at the unprotected point. And the poison,
like that of a wasp's, took effect at once, causing
paralysis. The weevil, never really having a chance
in the fight, ceased to struggle, and, with its legs
twitching feebly, was carried away captive by the
ant.
The adroit and businesslike manner in which the
weevil beetle is disposed of seems to prove beyond
question that the ant is by structure and by instinct
especially equipped for the work of destruction.
Instead of congregating in large numbers on
the cotton in the immediate vicinity of their
nests, the ants have, as it were, the good sense to
spread themselves through the field, from two to
four and five usually being found doing inspection
duty on each plant. In some places there did not
seem to be enough ants to go around, and here the
beetles were more numerous.
On occasions, too, certain flowers or branches
seemed to have been overlooked, beetles being found
on the same plants with the ants. In such instances,
(1 Years of Experiment and
Investigation Bring What
Is Supposed to Be the Solution
of the 801 l Weevil Problem
indeed^ the young flower or boll was generally rid
dled with punctures, as though many beetles had
availed themselves of a rare opportunity of feeding
undisturbed.
Cotton growing among the Indians of Guatemala
is something o:£ a special art, the community being
supplied by a few men, aware, as it were, of the se
crets of the business. They know nothing about the
weevil and its ravages, and ascribe such damage as
occurs to other harmless insects or even to supersti
tious causes, such as the failure of the owner to ab
stain from salt at the time of planting. The ant,
however, is definitely associated in their minds with
cotton, and they do not expect to secure a good crop
unless these insects favor the plants with their pres
ence.
Mr. Cook marveled at the exhibition of the ant.
To his technical mind it indicated the solution of
one of the most serious problems of economics the
Department of Agriculture ever had been engaged
to study.
Import the ant. to Texas, thought Mr. Cook, get
him acclimated, let him multiply, and his tribe will
kill off the boll weevil and save the cotton crop.
"Truly a grand commercial idea; almost too good
to be true," said the officials at Washington m hear
ing the first report of Mr. Cook.
And now.there are to be experiments with the
Guatemala red ant in the Texas cotton fields, and
the Department of Agriculture believes they will
be successful.
GUATEMALA ANT, EXECUTIONER;
TEXAS ANT AN UNDERTAKER
PHE Guatemala ant possesses several good point*
* in addition to its ability to put the boll weevil
out of business. First, it does not do the least injury
to the cotton plant or any other; second, it can be
handled with impunity, having none of the waspish
bad temper of many of the stinging and biting ants
of the tropics; third, it is a better insect destroyer
than the spider or the toad; fourth, it will doubtless
become accustomed to the climate of Texas and the
North more quickly than the boll weevil did, as it
hibernates in holes three feet deep in the ground
and survives cold weather on the high Mexican
table lands. The reader should not mistake this
Guatemala ant for the Texas specimen, which the
government investigated several weeks ago. It was
reported that the Texas ant was killing boll weevils
at a tremendous rate. As a matter of fact, it waa
simply carrying off weevil beetles that had died ly
other circumstances than fighting. The Texas ant
has proved simply to be an undertaker. The Guate
mala species is a warrior, an executioner, who cer
tainly knows his business and finds delight in it. 9
So the government is going to pit the Guatemala
ant against the boll weevil*
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