BOLL WEEVIL INFESTATION

Boll weevils, small grey-brown beetles (about one-quarter inch, or six millimeters, long) feed off of the fibers in cotton seed pods (bolls). Female boll weevils lay their eggs inside cotton plant buds; once their larvae hatch, worm-like grubs are produced. The offspring consume the boll fibers, causing the bolls to fall off of the plants.

The beetles spread from Central America and Mexico to Texas in the 1890s, first arriving there in 1894. During the following decade they moved eastward into other cotton-growing areas of the United States, reaching the Atlantic coast by 1916. The infestation devastated cotton crops throughout the South.

By 1904, the boll weevil was costing Texas cotton farmers $50 million a year; after 1908, cotton farmers in Mississippi lost 75 percent of their crops. The destruction prompted some farmers to again diversify their crops, and encouraged the "Great Migration" (1915–29) of African Americans out of the South to the more industrialized cities of the North.

After the American Civil War (1861–65), cotton was the easiest crop to convert to cash; demand was so great that growers could readily sell their harvest at a fair to good price. With Southern farmers hungry for cash, too many growers began to rely solely on the cotton crop. Supply soon exceeded demand, prices dropped, and farmers lost money.

Responses to boll weevil infestation were varied. Some farmers began cultivating different plants, while others simply planted less cotton. Farmers spaced rows farther apart so that each plant got more direct sunlight; the additional heat killed developing weevils. Various forms of insecticides (including arsenic) were found to be effective in managing boll weevil infestation. During the 1920s, the cotton industry recovered but the recovery did not last long, as all farmers were severely affected by the Great Depression, the worldwide economic crisis of the 1930s.

See also: Great Depression, Great Migration (1910–1920), King Cotton, Sharecropping