Gilpin observer., 1907-05-09
TO KILL BOIL WEEV|L
ENToMoLoGIsTS FIND RELIEF
FOR COTTON PLANTS ENEMY.
Beetle viii Be Attacked by Hard
Working Team Of Ants-Oraw'
back Is That Appetites Must
Be Cultivated First.

Washington.-The doom of the boil
weevil is believed to be in sight.
After working for decade and half
upon the problem the 'bugologists" of
the department of agriculture are
confident they have at last found the
solution. The beetle is to be killed
not by poison or fumigators, not by
fungous diseases or the industrious
Guatemalan ant, but by a hard-Work-
ing little team that cotton growers
have had right in their plantations for
generations, the common red ant and
the larvae of a certain wasplike ny
that abounds throughout the SOUTH
The reason the cotton men did not
use these insects before is the fact
that neither they nor the experts OF
the agricultural department had any
idea that the ant and the larvae liked
boil weevils for food. There is just
one drawback. 1t is necessary to
educate their taste for the weevil.
They may live side by side for gen
erations before it occurs to the
former to try the latter for food. But
when they do acquire the weevil taste
they become possessed Of an insatia-
BILE hunger for it that never dies until
they either eat up all the weevils in
sight or give up their efforts to live.
The only task that confronts the
agricultural department scientists and
the cotton planters, therefore, is to
cultivate the appetites of these In
sects as rapidly as possible. With the
end in view of educating the proper
taste for weevil food the agricultural
department has started on the task
at the Dallas experiment farm. The
scientists discovered that in those
parts of the country where the weevil
has been established for number OF
years the red ants and the fly larvae
were eating the cotton pests in great
numbers. In the locations where the
weevil has lately made it's appearance
they did not molest them. 1t was,
therefore, apparent that the ants and
grubs with the educated taste were
the ones needed on the experiment
farm, so a large number of them were
collected from the neighborhood OF
Waco map just issued by the de-
partment shows that the territory in
fected by the weevil has extended in
all directions, this season making the
usual advance of about so miles.
This brings it directly up to the
Mississippi river, and while it was
at one time thought that stand might
be made at that point and its advance
might be stopped the idea has been
| given up. Through Mississippi, Ala
| bama and Georgia. states which have
not yet been attacked, the experts be-
lieve the weevil will thrive to a
greater extent than in Texas, for
there is more moisture and vegetation
and the development will be helped by
the climate.
The last winter has been mild and
dry and the department scientists fear
that these favorable conditions will
make the weevil plentiful the coming
season. The same conditions will pro-
| duce many ants and Notwithstanding
worms, and they will be taken into
| the newly invaded territory, where
| there are experiment farms. and every
inducement will be given the planters
! to introduce them privately. Instruc-
! ton will also be given as to the de-
struction of certain weeds upon which
| the ants and flies live. and it is held
| that this will drive the insects more
| extensively into the cotton field and
cause their adoption of the new food.
| The region now included in the infest-
ed district embraces one-third of the
cotton-producing lands of the United
States. The weevil has travelled al
together 5S5 miles since its appear
ance in 1892. or an average of 41h
miles each year. Through the various
methods of combating it the produc-
ton of the infested country has been
| brought back to an approach to the
normal and in the ant and fly there is
hope OF permanent solution of the
problem of protection against the
| pests.
| Enioration from ltaIv