The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1902-10-29
CAN'T KILL COTTON WEEVIL.
Texas EntomologIst and Farmers De-
spair.

Prof. Mally, the State entomologist
of Texas, upon whom the cotton far
mers have depended to save them
from the ravages of the Mexican boil
weevil, after two years careful study
of that destructive insect, has report
ed that neither he nor the government,
state or national, can do anything for
the farmers Their only hope lies in
themselves, in years of hard work and
heavy expense. If they keep up the
fight they will, in time, get control Of
the wevil, and possibly eradicate it..
Such is the slender hope that Prof.
Mally holds out to them.
For three or four years since the
weevil crossed the Rio Grandc from
Mexico, it has been the object Of
close study and relentless war, in the
hope that it would be crushed out.
The United States chronological bu-
rear, the department of agriculture,
the state cntomologist and the far
mcrs themselves have all tried to get
rid Of the weeyil. One by one their
hopes csulted in failure.
The apartment Of agriculture pro-
posed to get rid of the weevils by cul
tivating Egyptian or some other varic-
ty Of cotton that the Mexican visitors
would not eat. The idea, hascd upon
the experience Of the French vine
growers, in substituting American for
French vines when the latter were at
tackled by the phylexera, was excellent
in theory, but proved failure in
practice, as the Egyptian cotton did
not prosper III Texas.
Then came the idea of getting rid
of the weevil by finding some other in
sect that would devour it. A fungus
growth was reported very damaging to
the insect, and strange new butter
fly devoured it in large quantities.
There has been no trouble in finding
phagocytes for the weevils; but un-
fortunately their appetites were not
sufficiently voracious. They ate the
weevils but not enough Of them, only
the superfous insects which wandered
off from the main hordes. Not only
the new butterflies devour Them, but
so does the common every day ant, all
in vexatious moderation. The only
insect that prevs on the wcevils vora-
ciously enough have any influence
on their numbers is the Gotten cater
pillar, and there is nothing to be gain
ed by using one enemy of the cotton
to kill another.
For time the Texas farmers were
delighted at the news that tho weevil
had completely disappeared from Rio
Grande county, where it first appear
cd, and the hope arose that in time it
would desert the rest Of the district
which it has ravaged. An Investigation
left no ground for this hope. The
weevils have left Rio Grande county,
it is true, but they have left there
only because they completely destroy
ed the cotton crop Of the county.
There was no cotton left for them,
and as they will eat nothing else, they
got out to more inviting fields. They
will leave the other counties in time,
but not until they have annihilated
the cotton.
In the meantime, they have eaten,
this year, 100000 bales Of cotton,
worth $20, 600, 600 and have crossed Red
River into the Indian Territory. By
next year there will not be single
cotton growing county in Texas free
from the weevil, unless the farmers of
the State take energetic steps to check
its progress.
There is but one way, Prof. Mally
says, to fight the insect. and that is
by removing ehe insects by hand. He
suggests various other plans that will
help along the work. Thus he sug-
gests the idea Of planting trap crops
or trap rows of q variety of early cot
ton. The idea is to make an attrac-
tive spot about the farm for the ear
liest weevils where they may be colon.
lied. These trap rows should also be
placed around gins and along wood
land sides of farms, as the insects
hibernate in cotton seed and in the
woods. When the weevils are thus