The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1908-04-18
Timely Ideas for the Cotton Planter.

| While the boIIWeeYll IS the enemy most
to be feared after the cotton has reached
the fruiting stage, the one likely to do
most damage to the cotton as it ap-
! pears above ground, and shortly after
wards, is the cowpea. pod-weevil.
For several seasons past these wee.
wills have been abund ant during April
and May and there is no reason for
believing that they will be less numer-
Gus this spring than heretofore. The
| following information concerning this
pest, and the suggestions for avoiding
its injury, are therefore not amiss at
, the present time.
The cowpea-pod weevil is small
black beetle, about the same size as
the boil weevil. The appearance of the
eowpea-pod Eeevil upon young cotton
plants during April and May often
causes great alarm to farmers who
mistake it for the boil Weevil, and as
| it sometimes feeds upon the cotton
| quite voraciously for few days, it is a
pest of some little consequence when
exceptionally abundant.
The natural and favorite host plant
of the cowpea-pod weevil is the cow
pea, and when cowpeas are available
it does not attack cotton. The eggs of
this insect are deposited in the pods of
J coWpeas and the little grubs Matching
from these eggs develop inside the
! pods, emerging in late summer as
adults.
The winter is passed by the adult
| cowpea-pod weevils ALTERNATING in
much the same manner as does the boil
weevil. In spring these adult coWpea-
pod weeVils leave their winter quar-
! tiers before cowpeas have come up, and
needing subsistence until their favor
| tie food plant is provided by the
| farmer, turn their attention to the
tender young cotton plants, eating
| into the leaves and stems. Their
fayorite point for attacking the small
cotton plants appears usually to be
the main stem, just where the leaves
| branch off. A hole eaten into the
| stem at this point of course soon
! causes the plant to wilt and die down.
Treatment of the cotton plants with
Paris green or other arsenieal poison
would be of doubtful efficiency, as the
insect, after tearing off the surface
tissue, feeds on the inner portion OF
the stems where poison could not be
made to reach.
Fortunately, expensive treatments
involving an outlay for poisons and
labor are entirely unnecessary, for
the farmer can save q good stand OF
cotton, despite the attack OF these in
sects, by iudicious management>of the
'fchoppings. The attacks of the
cowpea-p pod weevil are not long con-
tinued and it is very rare indeed that
they destroy over one-half of the
plants.
Chopping of the cotton should be
delayed until the bulk of the damage
is over, or as nearly to tn at time as cir
cumstances will permit, SO that while
the insects are at work their injury
will be distributed among the greater
number of plants. After the extent of
the damage is ascertained the chop
ping can be done and enough healthy
plants will by that time have escaped |
the insects to permit a good stand |
being left. If cotton be chopped out |
when the insects are actively at work |
on the cotton, their attack would be |
concentrated upon the few plants left |
and much danger would thus be in
Cured of the entire stand being de- |
stroyed.
When cowpeas appear above
ground the eoWpea- pod weevils leave
the cotton and turn their attention to /
the cowpeas, where they remain for
the balance OF the summer. Although
it is not impossible that this weevil
may in future years increase to such
an extent as to be serious enemy of
coWpeas, it's injury to the eowpea crop
thus far has consisted mainly in re
dueing the yield of seed; the yield of
hay and forage has not been materi-
ally affected.
During midsummer a few cowpca-
pod weeVils are occasionally found on /
the cotton plants, and doubtless they
now and then puncture a boil or
square for feeding purposes, but
several years observations have
failed to reveal single case in which
hey deposited eggs in the squares or
oolls. Injury Of any consequence by
hem to the fruiting cotton need not
be feared.
The cowpea-pod weevil, being SO
nearly the same size as the boil weevil,
$ often mistaken for the latter. The
,wo insects are, however, easily dis
inguished. The eowpea-pod weevif is
shorter and more robust in form than :
he boil weeyil. The body of the boil
Veevll, as seen under magnifyfng
,lass, is covered with thousands of
minute hairs, which give a general
srayish or broWnish color to the boil
seeVil, while the cowpea- pod weevil,s
,ody, on the other hand, is devoid oil
lairs, is smooth shining jet black :
olor and when magnifed is seen to be
h !