The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1907-11-15
THE BOIL WffNL.
How 10 Grow Cotton In Spite
Of II.
BIZ GLgSs ". HEnRrcK.

WV ~"
OF Mississippi. The weevil Is no,
present In small numbers in the cottol
fields along the banks Of the Mississippi
river In Adams county, south Of Natche,
q and in considerable numbers In wilkin
son county. This means that the weevi
Is here to stay and will gradually bur
= surely spread over the whole State
:, probably the southern half first.
A The boil weevii has come to stay
find 1t a fairly pre- yalent idea That the
boil weeyil has been In Mississippi be.
fore, and that having since disappeared
IL will do the same again. Allow me to
say that this is a most ~grievous error
and anyone who Gnds solace in this idea
and thereby resigns himself to inactivity
in this fight waiting for the weevil to
disappear again Ia simply inviting dis
aster to his cotton producing prospects.
The boil weevil will always be present
In Mississippi, and II will have to be
constantly and intclligently fought, be-
cause there Is no panacea for its inju-
ries and no immediate or remote pros
pect OF n being found.
The cultural system. On the other
hand the Bureau OF Entomology of the
United States Department OF Agricult-
ure has worked out a system, whereby
TIE injuries Of the weevil may be re,
duced TO a minimum. The cultural sys-
ten, Ike every remedy ever devised for
an Injurious insect, demands thought,
persistence, thorougbness and labor.
II consists OF measures that are con-
dueive to good farming, and ought TO be
practiced whether the boil weeyil il
present or not and il followed will ia.
crease the production of cotton In any
event. Tho cultural system embodies
and demands the fall destruction of
cotton stalks, the planting Of an early
variety OF cotton, the early planting Of
this cotton, the thorough and frequent
cultivation Of the soil and the use of the
proper kinds and amounts of fertilizers.
and just here we must discuss briefly
two phases Of tho life history of the
weeSil which must always be borne In
mind and never for an instant be lost
sight OF, for upon them hinges all the
laws OF tho cultural system. These
phases are the rate of increase Of
the weeyil and (2) tho individuals that
hibernate and pass the winter success
fully ready to propagate their kind in
the spring.
The rate Of Increase OF the weevlls.
"A female weevil lays an average of
1870 eggs. To be safe, however, we shall
suppose she lays only 100 eggs. If she
commences laying by the middle of
May, there will easily be four genera
lions by the first OF November and the
individuals Of the last generation will
reach the enormous number OF 12,500,-
ooo, provided half of each generation
are females and we know they occur In
about that proportion. This means
that one female weevil in the spring
might produce enough offspring to fur
nish three weevils for every square foot
ground In a hundred-acre field of cot
ton. 10 is s~clf-evldcnt, then, that II
dozen females we're to pass the
winter successfully In or near a small
field planted to cotton In the spring,
there might be and would tend to be,
weevils enough to destroy every form =.
or square in that field made after the
drst OF August and thereby greatly in i,
lure the seasons crop. !
The weeyils that live over the winter.
This insect maintains itself from year !
to year by some Of the full-grown iudi, !
Vidnals OF the last brcods, hiding away
In protected hooks and %crannies after !
the first hard frost aud lying in a dor. !
ihant state until the warm weather Of
the succeeding spring. 1t has been I
shown that only those weevils that be-
some fnll-grown late In tho fall are able
10 successfully survive the winter. Z
Those wecvils that become mature in !
and October, especially IL !
deprived OF food, become greatly weak I
sned before frost and are usually killed \
before the warm weather of spring ar
To be specific, Professor Hunter !
says that out Of il6 weeyils which he \
'ahle iu~li-grown about November Is =
'niy managed to live through the win !
while out Of 40 weeyils that he \
'ame adults about the middle Of Decem- Z
Der, 3S passed the winter successfully. !
. is evident, then, that any measure !
whereby the boil weevils may be pre- Z
'ented from mating late will beuf great !
advantage in that it will greatly reduce !
he number of weevils able to pass the Z
successfully. AS we have shown :
n our discussion OF the rate Of increase !
u this insect, the number Of weevils In I
cotton patch in the spring determines Z
argely whether any cotton will be !
made after the first Of August. 8
Destruction OF cotton stalks In the !
all. From what has just been said ia Z
he two preceding paragraphs, il is evil !
lent that the most important means Of !
preventing injury by the boil weevil Is Z
o prevent the full-grown ones from I
passing over the winter. Every female :
Seevil we can kill during the fall and
winter means hundreds less In our cot \