George Daniel Butler Jr. Papers

The George Daniel Butler Jr. Papers, 1924-1971 consist of reports on insect infestation of cotton and alfalfa crops in Arizona and other states. Although the collection ranges from 1925 to 1971, the bulk of the reports document research conducted at the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) laboratories at Mesa and Tempe, Arizona from 1930 to 1950. The collection has been maintained in two series: G. D. Butler Papers and L. L. Stitt Papers.

The G. D. Butler Papers include annual and quarterly station reports for the Tempe, Arizona laboratory and a number of individual reports on infestation of alfalfa, cotton, clover and peanut crops and the extermination of insects. The majority of the reports concern infestation of alfalfa by Bruchophagus Funebris, Lygus and Pantatomid.

Methods of extermination utilized in these studies included aerial spraying of insecticides (Box 1, Folder 7), and Mist Blowers (Box 2, Folder 8). Charts and graphs of infestation percentages at various locations including the Mohawk Valley and Yuma are given in the reports. Buckeye, Arizona was a control area for these studies. A history of the Mesa USDA laboratory is also included in this series.

The L. L. Stitt Papers include many of the same kinds of research reports found in G. D. Butler Files. Included are Stitt's thesis on entomology from Iowa State University (1945), studies indicating the effects of weather, temperature and field cleanliness on Lygus infestation (Box 2, Folders 13 and 18), a history of Lygus in the Roll, Arizona area (Box 3, Folder 1), and a study on crop yield decline in the Hemet District, Riverside County, California (Box 3, Folder 18). The use of trap lights for extermination is discussed in the Special Report of the Tucson, Arizona laboratory (Box 3, Folder 20).