Pine Bluff Daily Graphic

PROTECTING U. S. FROM PINK
BOLL WORM.

Since the discovery early in November
that the Egyptian pink bollworm
is present in the cotton fields of the
Laguna district of Mexico, about 200
miles south of the Texas border, the
federal horticultural board of the
United States department of agriculture
has taken all possible steps in
Texas to make sure that the destructive
pest has not entered and does not
enter this country. The 400 or more
carloads of cotton seed which entered
the United States from Mexico last
year have been traced to oil mills in
Texas and the attention of the operators
of these plants has been called to
the desirability of crushing the Mexican
seed as soon as possible and of
thoroughly cleaning their premises to
make certain that none of the insects
survive. Most of the imported seed
already has been crushed, but a few
consignments which arrived early in
the season have been covered with
large amounts of domestic seed and
will not be reached until later.

The federal horticultural board
plans to have its inspectors keep
close watch over these establishments
to minimize the possibility of the
escape of pink bollworms or their
moths. It is also planned to have inspectors
carefully examine all cotton
fields in the neighborhood of these
establishments during the coming
growing season in order that any of
the insects which may escape and
establish themselves on cotton plants
may be early detected and destroyed.

The inspectors of the department of
agriculture so far have not discovered
infested seed in Texas. A number of
carloads of seed in which the insects
were present have been found, however,
on the Mexican side of the
border awaiting entry. A quarantine
against all cotton seed from Mexico
was placed in effect early in November
and neither the infested seed discovered
at the border nor any other
cotton seed originating in Mexico has
since been permitted to enter this
country.