The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-03-10

very rapidly, multiplies enormously in the course of a summer. and works during the critical period of it's life absolutely protected from any application which could be made to the cotton plant.
 Slowed away in old corn stalks, in cumps of grass, under the bark of trees and logs. and in all sorts of sheltered places. the weevil passes the winter. Promptly the cotton plant comes up in the spring and early summer the weevls come forth, fly to the plants, and as soon as the first squares" s"-unblown buds-are formed they lay their eggs in them. The young grub hatches, and de- stroys the forming flower, causing the square to drop. The grub changes to pupa within the bud. and the full grown weevil emerges soon after
 When such of the flowers as escape this first attack mature. and the cotton boil forms. it also is pierced by the weevils beak, an egg Is laid, and another grub be- gins to feed on the interior of the boil. destroying all the formingc otton lint, reaching full growth and changing to pupa and emerging as a weevil. In this way the insects increase in geometrical ratio. until by late summer they occur in countless millions; often hardly boil ma tures
 An Invader From Mexico.
 A bale of cotton contains from 45O to 800 pounds. and in former days to raise a bale or a bale and a half of cotton to the acre in the best parts of Texas was almost a rule. Where the weevil has made its appearance, however. it is often difficult to raise a bale of cotton on ten, or even fifteen, acres of land.
 The weevil came to Texas from Mexico. where in certain places 1t had absolutely stopped the cultivation of cotton It crossed the Rio Grande at Brownsville, tod !, tent of grazing country in cotton which was taken to be ginned at a place called Alice. From Alice northward and east ward cotton culture Is continuous, and the weevi spread at the rate of about seven ty-five miles a year from 1894 until the present time. It has now reached prac- tically to the northern border of Texas and Ia on the east within a few miles of Louisiana.
 During all this time the United States department of agriculture and the State Agricultural college of Texas have been studying the insect. and trying to find some means of fighting it successfully Eight or nine years ago 1t could have been stopped and all this damage pre- vented by abandoning the culture of cot ton In an unproductive section. Or If the planters could have been induced to cut down and burn the cotton stalks in the fall. it is probable that the insect would not have spread. and would eventually have been exterminated
 All sorts of experiments have been made with different insectcde mixtures and with many different kinds of ma chimes. The most careful studies have been made of the e-history and habits of the insect. Experts have been sent to Mexico to other portions of Central Amer ica. and to the West Indies as well. to study the insect In its natural home-for 1 hope of being able to find some parasite or natural enemy which might be intro duced with beneficial effect.
 Is There Remedy?
 Although no such parasite has been found, and although no poisonous appli- cation has been discovered which will de- stroy the weevil. and although no prac- ticaltical machine has been invented, we have nevertheless, through our intimate knowledge of the life-history of the weevil. found way to grow cotton in paying quantities in spite of the destruc- tive creature.
 In the spring the weevils are few in number; the great majority of them have been killed by the long winter. Compar- atively few come out of hibernating quar- ters In the spring to lay eggs for the coming generation. A single female will have millions of descendants by autumn, but these millions are gradually develop ed.
 It was the old custom to pick cotton in Texas until past Christmas. and in late autumn the weevils are at their height in point of numbers. If planters use north ern cotton seed-the plants from which develop much more rapidly than from Texas seed--if they plant their rows a little further apart than has been the custom. If they cultivate the crop and force 1t to early maturity. they will be able to raise good quantity of cotton