History
of the USDA Cotton Insects Research Laboratory Tallulah, Louisiana, 1909-1973
By
T. C. CLEVELAND AND C. R. PARENCIA[1],[2]
From the Bulletin of the Entomological Society
of America, Volume 22, Number 4, December 1976, pp 403-407
On June 30, 1973,
after 64 years of continuous operation, the USDA Cotton Insects Research
Laboratory, Tallulah, Louisiana, closed. Since the Laboratory began in 1909,
many prominent entomologists have been members of the staff. Their pioneering
efforts in evaluating and developing chemical insecticides and application techniques
for the control of pest insects in cotton are widely recognized. The Laboratory
was the acknowledged leader in research on the boll weevil, Anthonomus grandis Boheman,
for over half a century and provided an in-valuable service to cotton growers
when the boll weevil invaded the Mississippi Delta and spread to the East
Coast.
Much of the history
of the Tallulah Laboratory was documented in the June 1960 issue of the
Bulletin of the Entomological Society of America to call attention to the 50th
anniversary of the Laboratory. This earlier article was based largely on a
January 1947 address "Cotton Insect Research at Tallulah, Louisiana"
made by Chairman R. C. Gaines at the 21st Annual Meeting of the Cotton States
Branch, American Association of Economic Entomologists, Biloxi, Mississippi.
However, C. F. Rainwater, Assistant Chief, Cotton Insects Research Branch, Entomology
Research Division, ARS, USDA added information concerning changes in the
administration of the Laboratory in the year between 1947 and 1960. Because 26
years have passed since Mr. Gaines gave his address, the authors were asked to
update the information on the laboratory so we would have a complete record of
the contributions and personnel.
The Tallulah
Laboratory, often called the "Delta Laboratory", was established July
1, 1909 as part of the Southern Field Crop Insect Investigations, Bureau of Entomology,
USDA. L. O. Howard of Washington, D. C. was Chief of
the Bureau of Entomology when the Laboratory was established. R. A. Cushman was
the Laboratory's first director, and he remained in charge until November 1910.
He was succeeded by G. D. Smith who held the position until the spring of 1915,
when he, in turn, was succeeded by B. R. Coad. From 1909-1925 the cotton insect
investigations at Tallulah were part of the USDA Division of Southern Field
Crop Insect Investigations, which was directed by W. D. Hunter at Houston,
Texas. Shortly after Dr. Hunter's death on October 13, 1925, the Division of
Cotton Insect Investigations was created. The Headquarters for this new
Division were established at Tallulah, and B. R. Coad was placed in charge of
both the Division Headquarters and the Tallulah Laboratory. He remained in
these capacities until Jan. 27, 1931, when he was succeeded by R. W. Harned. However, the Division Headquarters and Harned were moved from Tallulah to Washington, D.C., in
January 1931. R. C. Gaines was placed in charge of the Laboratory at Tallulah.
Mr. Gaines continued
in charge of the Tallulah Laboratory for 25 years until July 15, 1956 when he
was transferred to Baton Rouge where he headed a new laboratory established
in cooperation with the Louisiana Agricultural Experiment Station to study the
problem of resistance of cotton insects to insecticides. Thus from July 16
until Nov. 5, 1956, T. R. Pfrimmer was acting in
charge of the Tallulah Laboratory, G. L. Smith was in charge from that date
until he retired July 3, 1964, and Tomie C. Cleveland
was in charge until the laboratory ceased operations in 1973.
In the early days,
the work of the Tallulah Laboratory was concerned mostly with the life history,
habits, and control of the boll weevil. Then for several years, many of the
studies had to do with lead arsenate. Finally in 1916, calcium arsenate was
used against the boll weevil and found to be more effective than any other
poison previously used. Indeed, the increase in yields in test plots in 1916
and 1917 were so outstanding when fields were dusted with calcium arsenate that
35,000 acres were dusted in 1918 under the supervision of the Bureau of
Entomology. The satisfactory results developed interest among manufacturers who
produced about 3 million pounds of calcium arsenate in 1919, 10 million pounds
in 1920, and 60-70 million pounds annually thereafter, until the synthetic
organic insecticides entered the picture in the late 1940's.
During the first few
years it was used, calcium arsenate was a crude product. First the chemists at
the Tallulah Laboratory stabilized its physical and chemical properties; the
dust formulation they developed was considered the best one ever from the
standpoint of the qualities necessary for good plant coverage. Then the
Tallulah chemists produced calcium arsenates with varying percentages of water
soluble arsenic and calcium arsenates containing no free lime; however, none of
these replaced regular calcium arsenate. Meanwhile, field experiments were
being conducted at Tallulah and in many places throughout the cotton belt to
determine the poundage of the chemical and the intervals between applications
that would give the most returns.
The development of
calcium arsenate as an insecticide made necessary the development of machines
that could be used to apply the material to cotton. With the cooperation and
aid of the Bureau of Public Roads, engineers stationed at Tallulah developed a
rotary-type hand gun that could be used to dust 8 acres of cotton every 4 or 5
days; a 2-nozzle saddle gun for dusting 40-50 acres; a 2-nozzle traction
machine for treating 40-60 acres; a 3 to 5-nozzle traction machine for 75-150
acres; power-operated machines for 200-300 acres; and tractor-operated machines
for still larger acreages. In 1922, in cooperation with the United States Air
Service, Tallulah personnel conducted the 1st experiments with calcium arsenate
applied from airplanes to cotton plants for cotton insect control. For such
applications suitable equipment was subsequently developed by the engineers. As
a result, hundreds of airplanes throughout the cotton belt were equipped for
dusting cotton and other crops.
Thus by the late
1920's, 3 new industries, the manufacture of calcium arsenate, ground and
aerial dusting machinery, and an aerial dusting service, had resulted from the
research at the Tallulah Laboratory. More than 30 companies were manufacturing
calcium arsenate in 1920, and many models of dusting machines were soon on the
market
From 1920, hundreds
of proposed methods of controlling the boll weevil were tested at Tallulah
including many weevil-catching and square-collecting devices and machines.
Other research having to do with boll weevils including cage hibernation
studies, examinations of Spanish moss and later of surface woods trash to
determine the number of weevils surviving the winter in nature, examinations of
cotton plants in May and June for overwintered weevils, a study of movement
with flight screens, determination of longevity, chemotropism, parasites and
alternate host plants. The parasite studies included much work with native
parasites and also the introduction and liberation of foreign parasites, particularly
Triaspis vestiticida Viereck and Bracon vestiticide (Viereck).
However, as calcium
arsenate came into general use for control of boll weevils, infestations of the
cotton aphid, Aphis gossypii
(Glover), increased. These destructive infestations occurred largely because
the calcium arsenate was killing off predators and parasites of the aphids.
Therefore, the Tallulah Iaboratory in operation with
State Agricultural Experiment Stations investigated modifications of boll
weevil control that would also provide control of the cotton aphid. This was
accomplished by adding 2% nicotine to alternate applications of calcium
arsenate or 1% nicotine in all applications. Considerable time was devoted to
the problem of controlling cotton leafworms Alabama argillatea
(Hubner), and insects associated with cotton fleahopper, Pseudatomoscelis seriatus (Reuter). Also, some work was done against thrips, (Frankliniella spp.),
crickets (Gryllus
spp.), and other miscellaneous insects.
The applications of
calcium arsenate dust to the field plots at Tallulah (at either 4-or 5-day
intervals each season) gave an average increase in yield of seed cotton for the
27 years (1920-1946) of 314 lb/acre, 22.5%, compared with untreated plots. In the
8 years, 1938-1946 calcium arsenate alone gave an
average increase in of 154 lb/acre, or 10.1%, compared with 378 lbs, 24.8% for
calcium arsenate plus nicotine.
While exact figures
for the amount of calcium arsenate used on cotton are not available, a large
proportion of all that was manufactured was used on cotton. It is estimated
that the 2 million or more acres dusted annually for boll weevil control
increased the grower's profit by many times the total spent by the USDA on boll
weevil research once the research was started in 1894. The use of calcium
arsenate was thus advantageous, but the material was by no means a perfect
insecticide. A less expensive material was needed that was more toxic than
calcium arsenate as a stomach poison or that would kill by contact. Also, one
was needed that would not cause an increase of aphid populations. The
insecticides that became available for control of the boll weevil and other
cotton insects in the 1940's were therefore most welcomed. The Laboratory
contributed to the development of these organochlorine
and organophosphorous compounds and later the carbamates. Toxaphene, BHC, aldrin, dieldrin, and heptachlor
rapidly replaced calcium arsenate for boll weevil control. What was more, they also controlled Hefiothis zea (Boddie)
when they were used in combination with DDT. The Tallulah Laboratory
contributed to the development of low-volume spray applications of these
insecticides for control of cotton insects, and this method soon replaced dust
formulations for a number of reasons.
The effect of the
improved insect control that resulted from the development of the organochlorine and organophosphorous
insecticides is illustrated by the increases in yield that were obtained in
treated plots at Tallulah compared with untreated plots. For example, from 1920
to 1956, the increase in yield averaged 31.0%. However, before the advent of
the new insecticides in 1945 they averaged 26.0% compared with 41.0% after
1945.
During World War II
and the Korean Conflict and through 1954, the laboratory had the responsibility
for conducting cotton insect surveys in Louisiana and Arkansas. The objective
was to alert industry to possible outbreaks of pest insects so the necessary
insecticide would be available when and where they were needed. The Laboratory
also advised the War Production Board on needed allocations of steel for
insecticide containers and application equipment, and a weekly report was
issued and made available to communication media concerning the pest insect
situations in the various areas of the 2 States.
In 1955, researchers determined that
the boll weevil in Louisiana had developed resistance to organochlorine
insecticides. However, the toxaphene plus DDT mixture continued to be effective
against these resistant boll weevils, fortunately, methyl parathion had been
studied and was available for use in weevil control. It has since continued to
be widely used for the control of this insect pest.
In subsequent years
the Laboratory contributed to the development of systemic insecticides for
control of several early-season insects that attack cotton, helped develop
ultra-low volume applications of insecticides for boll weevil control, was
active in the reproduction-diapause, control of boll
weevil populations, and joined with 4 other cotton insect field laboratories in
conducting belt-wide experiments to evaluate candidate
insecticides and microbial agents for control of various cotton insects. Also,
the preliminary work of developing the Leggett pheromone boll weevil trap was
done while Joe Leggett was on the staff of the Laboratory. In 1960 T, C.
Cleveland of the Laboratory discovered a nematode that attacks the adult boll
weevil in the northeast area of Louisiana. W. R. Nickle of ARS, USDA, Beltsville, Md. identified the nematode as a new genus and
species and named it for Cleveland.
The Laboratory was
closed in June 1973 in the interest of economy.
Although complete
records of permanent personnel in the early years of the Laboratory are not
available, those that can be so documented from files in the office of the
junior author included:
Clifford H. Billett 11/19/29 to 6/16/35 Photographer M.
Fagan 3/1/31 to 8/3/33 Ad
Assistant
Floyd F. Bondy 5/1/17 to 5/28/27 Entomologist G.
M. Fagan 3/1/31 to 8/3/33 Ad
Assistant
William L. Bowes 8/19/22 to 12/31/31 Machinist J. W. Folsom 2/7/25
to 9/24/36 Entomologist
Hilda M. Canady 7/1/28 to 1/28/35 Secretary G. L. Garrison 9/1/20 to 12/?/56 Scientific Aid
Tom P. Cassidy 2/16/17 to 3/1/25 Entomologist P. M. Gilmer 6/23/32 to 5/25/36 Entomologist
A. J. Chapman 6/10/22 to 6/1/35 Entomologist Harry Gimora 7/8/29
to 1/18/31 Meteorologist
J. C. Clark 11/17/31 to 5/15/36 Entomologist P.
A. Glick 4/27/25 to 5/25/36
Entomologist
6/10/59
to 12/9/63 R. C. Gaines 9/1/20 to 7/15/56 Entomologist
T. C. Cleveland 12/26/56 to 6/30/73 Entomologist J. W.
Holley 7/1/31 to 9/30/3?
Watchman
B. R. Coad 4/1/13 to 1/27/31 Entomologist R. W. Harned 6/20/31
to 10/16/31 Entomologist
W. S. Cook 1/15/25 to 9/30/33 Microscopist
R. A. Cushman 7/1/09 to 11/?/10 Entomologist
E. W. Dunman 1/1/29 to 9/30/29 Entomologist
K. P. Ewing 7/1/28 to 1/15/33 Entomologist