Fitzgerald enterprise. (Fitzgerald, Ga.) 1895-1912, 1904-06-21
WHAT THE WEEVIL is.

WHAT THE WEEVIL is.
The adult weevil is brownish bee
tie varying from three-sixteenths to
three eighths of an inch in length. It
Is provided with long ''snout" or bill
and Is not unlike the common acorn
weeVil in appearance. In color, the
boil weevils vary from light gray to
q chocolate brown or black. AS a
! usual thing the older the beetle. the
darker in color it becomes, owing to
the minute hairs wearing OFF the body.
The boil weevil is a not distant rel.
alive of the strawberry weevil and the
plum curculio. There are many COM
mon species of weevils which SO close
ly resemble it that the novice can
tell them apart only with difficulty.
The adult beetles pass the winter in
ira sh, rubbish, cotton bolls, ETC., about
the cotton fields, and also in the leaves
and rubbish of timber lands. These
weevjls appear in the spring at about
the time the first cotton plants appear
above the ground, and having tasted
since the previous autumn, now feed
to considerable extent upon the
tender buds and stems of the young
cotton plants Later in the season.
however, they feed but little in the
adult stage.
AS soon as the first squares appear
the female beetles commence egg de-
position. The female eats hole in
TO the square or form and deposits
an egg therein. This process is then
repeated upon the next square, form
or bloom, and so on. Each female
deposits from so to Is eggs in this
manner, and with few exceptions eacn
egg is deposited il a separate square
OF form.
The egg matches in two or three
day after being deposited. into a mi
NUT footless worm" or Iarva which
Immediately commences feeding on
the interior OF the square The square
CT form invariably falls to the ground
at this time. and the larva continues
its development therein. In from IA
20 II days this larva reaches full
growth, becoming about three-eighthG
OF an inch in length, and is white and
plump. 1t ROW passes into the pu.
pa stage. still remaining in the square,
During the pupal stage it takes no
food, and this stage lasts from seven
to ten days, at the end Of which time
it changes to the adult beetle and
again commences the life cycle We
.huS see that an entire generation OF
weeNils is developed approximately
every sc days during the entire grow
ing season OF cotton. During the win
ter season a large percentage of the
weevis are killed by unfavorable
weather, by the attacks of birds and
animals etc., so that early in the
spring there are comparatively few
of them. Their damage to the cotton
early in the season is, therefore, hard
ly noticeable, but as each thirty-day
period brings an increased generation
the WeeVils are abundant enough by
July 18th or August LIST to sting and
destroy every square formed upon
the plants. So long as plenty OF
squares are at hand the eggs are de-
posted in these in preference to the
bolls, hut when the weevils have be-
como SO abundant that the supply OF
squares does not equal their demands,
eggs are then laid in the green bolls.
Bolls set early in the summer es.
cape injury from the weevil, but af-
ter about July 18th in the weevil-in-
tested district, every square is de-
stroyed as fast as formed.
REMEDIES.
No really satisfactory remedy has
been found for THIS pest. The fact
that the insect feeds very little except
in the laval stage, and the fact that
this stage is entirely protected within
tle square or boil, makes it impos-
sible to kill the insects by the appli-
cation of arsenical poisons to the
plants. The first brood which appears
III the spring-from winter quarters
feeds &c some extent upon the young
cotton plants and some of them can be
killed by applying poison at this time.
The adult insect has a hard ana
noruy covering making it impractical.
bic to destroy it by contract insecticides
However, the government entomol-
ogists who have experimental against
this pest extensively the past few
years in Texas have found several
means by which the ravages of the
pest can be reduced and a protit-re-
turning crop made in spite OF tie wee
VII. These measures are all simple
and can be applied by any farmer. In
the frs place no 'top-crop" can ever
be made in a weevil-infested district.
Ii cattle and mules are turned into
the cotton fields three or four weeks
before the first autumn frosts and
are allowed IN nat off tho vOrpr