Department Head—Research and Teaching
1899-1902

Fred W. Mally, a pioneer entomologist and horticulturist, came to Texas in 1891. Two years later, he published a valuable report on the bollworm as Bulletin 29 of the United States Department of Agriculture. The same year he resigned from governmental service and became manager of the Galveston Nursery and Orchard Company near Dickinson. He served as director of the Texas Commission on Insect Pests and Fungus Diseases and was active in getting the first orchard and nursery inspection law passed in Texas.

In 1899 Mally was hired to be the first professional entomologist at Texas A&M College, a position established to study the boll weevil. In this capacity, he established the first field laboratory for studying the boll weevil, first recorded details of the boll weevil’s life cycle, stressed the use of early maturing varieties as a way of managing the pest, and advocated the use of lead arsenate to control it. His 1902 Report on the Boll Weevil was one of the earliest comprehensive works on the life history and control of the pest.

He resigned his position at Texas A&M in 1902 and entered into the nursery business. During the period 1909-1910 he served as state entomologist of the Texas Department of Agriculture. He became county agricultural agent in 1915 and served in Webb and Bexar counties until his retirement in 1938.