The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1901-12-28
FARMER AND PLANTER.
ing the Boil Weevil for the
Next Cotton Crop.

Prof. Fred. w. Mally, in q letter to
the press, gives some practical advice
for controlling the boil weevil for
next years crop of cotton. The fol-
lowing is digest of its contents:
Experiments have proven that cattle
fatten readily when grazed upon cot
ton at this season of the year, espe-
cially if there are yet some immature
bolls and squares. Any top crop or
unpicked cotton will, therefore, be
fully repaid in the fattened steer, and
is, therefore, not loss. AS matter
of fact grazing the cotton intelligent
ly, in ordinary years. will save to the
planter, in the feed and value of his
cattle, the top crop, which is now so
often lost. This method of grazing
the cotton should, therefore, be looked
upon in the light of business prop
osition.
There is one difficulty about the
general application of this grazing
method. The planters, many of them,
have not sufficient number of cattle
to Craze off their cotton acreage.
neither can they secure enough in
their neighborhood. To overcome this
obstacle, some of the larger planters
along the Brazos bottom, in Brazos
and Burleson counties, have gone to
northwest and northeast Texas, where
cattlemen are short of feed, and have
bought carloads of steers and shipped
them to their plantations.
But there are those who are not
able to buy. For these, tests have re-
Gently been made of method which
will serve them well and enable them
to make successful fight against the
pest. In the sandy sections, or the
prairie land districts, where cotton
does not grow too rank, hitch up
moving machine and NOW off the cot
ton, leaving from three to five rows
across every ten to twenty acres un-
cut. Follow the mower with hay
rake and wind-row the moved cot
ton. AS soo2 as the cotton dies the
boil weevils leave it and seek fresh,
green cotton for their feeding, and
naturally find the rows left uncut.
Recently a field managed in this way
was inspected and the trap rows left
standing were fairly alive with boil
weevils. The plan is to NOW off all
the cotton except few trap rows on
which to colonize the fleeing weevils.
IN this way the acreage to be grazed
Is confined to the trap rows, and so
reduces the acreage to be treated
that any ordinary farmer can muster
up enough cattle to Craze it down.
Spraying tests have shown that first
colonizing the weevils as above out
lined on trap rows, and then spraying
these rows thoroughly each day for
few days with suitable preparation.
come nearer destroying absolutely all
the weevils than any other method
There is more or less shaking and
Earring of the cotton while the cat
tie are grazing, and small per cent.
of the weevils will drop to the ground
and escape. This also occurs when the
trap rows are sprayed; but in this
case the plants are covered with the
poison and the weevils find it after
getting back and are poisoned.
For spraying the trap rows, use the
following formula: Dissolve three
ounces of arsenic by boiling in three
gallons of water; dissolve one pound
of arsenate of lead in a gallon of cold
water; mix the two poison solutions
well; this done, add water to make
81 gallons and mix the whole thor
oughly; then fill sprayers and apply
to the cotton. Spray the trap rows
once day until no more live weevils
are found. This will indicate that
they have either all been destroyed
or are going to their winter quarters.
and further spraying will be of no
value. Sprayed trap rows should not
be grazed.
The bottom-land planters, where
cotton grows too rank for the mower,
should use a homemade stalk cutter.
1t is cheap implement, and expedites
the work of cutting the stalks very
materially. The following descrip-
ton will enable them to have any
carpenter and blacksmith to make
one. 1t is designed to pass between
two rows, and cuts one row at each
side as it is pulled along by the mule:
Take two pieces of 4x6-inch lumber,
about eight feet long. The lower side
should be trimmed and rounded to a
runner edge. Then form the letter A,
with proper boiling. Make the spread
to suit the width of rows on the plan
tation. Then take two steel blades
about three inches wide, and have a
blacksmith make a cutting edge along
one side. The blades had better not
be less than 3s-inch thick. When the
edge has been developed, bolt these
blades, one on each side of the A
frame. The blades should be of suf-