Lee Simsrman, age 6, of Utica, New York for His question:'

What is the boll weevil?

The tough little boll weevil is one of our insect enemies. The hardy fellow is about a quarter inch long and ha has a strong, sturdy snout. Every year ha does untold damage to the puffy white cotton crops of our Southland. Many patient hours and countless dollars are spent trying to keep the pesky boll weevil in check. The annoying part of all this is that he does not belong hers. He is a destructive invader in our country.

The sunny Southland is just the right place for growing green cotton plants. At the right season the fields ripen with snowy white cotton bolls. These fluffy pom poms are harvested and prepared to weave cotton fabrics of all kinds. All want well until the year 1892. Then a few cotton fields in Texas were invaded by an army of greedy beetles, They came from their native home in Mexico and Central America to feed on our cotton.

At first, dust a few people realized that this invasion was serious and nobody did much to stop it from advancing. With every year, the invading army advanced farther through the cotton growing lands. Crops ware destroyed, farmers and banks ware ruined. The well fed invaders multiplied fast and by the time chemical dusts were used against them, countless acres of cotton lands ware laid waste.

The tough little female boll weevil uses her sturdy snout to open a flower bud of the cotton plant and here she lays an egg. In three or four days the egg hatches into a fat wormy grub: It devours the bud and soon becomes an adult beetle. This beetle spreads her crisp wings and flies in search of a round boll which has ripened on some weevil free cotton plant.

There she lays an egg which becomes a wormy grub who feeds and feeds upon our puffy white cotton. Each female may lay 300 or 400 eggs and each of her grubby children can destroy one puffy boll of cotton. In a single summer, the first boll weevil becomes a great grandmother who has produced thousands and thousands of greedy offspring.

The army of invading boll weevils have destroyed countless acres of our cotton land. Modern chemicals sprayed from airplanes are able to save some areas. But a lot of the land is now used for other crops and to support cattle, pigs and chickens. These are farm products which do not interest the boll weevil.

Every sad story can have a bright side and the people of Enterprise, Alabama refused to be put out of business by the pesky boll weevil. It struck their crops in 1915. So they planted corn and potatoes, hay and sugar cane   and their crops prospered. And, of all things, those unbeatable people erected a monument of appreciation to boll weevil who taught them to keep trying   oven when things seamed impossible.