The Port Gibson reveille. [volume] (Port Gibson, Miss.) 1890-current, 1908-08-27
The Mexican Boil Weevil and
other Insects.
For the Revetlle

| minus u TIC lAeAhbCA eA40 TIC AAAOA
chant as to the advance of thl
j Mexican boil weevil upon the cot
ton fields of Mississippi, and it i
only question of time when every
cotton growing section of the south
shall realize these unpleasant ap
lPrehensions. Nor can any ingenui
ty of man stop their progress. They
are one of the little insects thai
cannot be quarantined, for variou:
are the ways by which they can be
transmitted. The trains will bring
them, not only in the cars, bat
perchance in the different parcels
shipped from infected districts, as
we'll as the slow but sure waiting
of the moth upon every passing
breeze. Still a little practical
study of insect life will in a great
measure remove some of the dread
of the destructive work of this min
ute insect upon our crops. Scien-
fists (mostly theoretical) would
have you to believe that the boil
weevil, once quartered here, will
be a permanent destroyer of the
cotton fields of the South, while
the more practical student of insect
life will tell you to have no such
apprehension or fear, for, like 9TH
er insects, it will in time run its
course, fill its mission, and Is gone.
Recall the history of other insects.
The ant, after a time, will don its
wings and ftp away and die. Pc
riodically the locust and the grass
hopper will visit us, and denude
the forests of their foliage, and the
fields of their blades of grass, and
then pass away. The once-dread-
ed army worm, which was wont to
prey upon our cotton feds, strip
ping the stalks of every leaf, and
the bolls of every shuck, leaving
the plant as bare and naked as a
steeple, have become only a mem
ory of the past. The potato bug,
too, as we'll as caterpillars and 9TH
er insects, have come and gone,
and just so it will be with the Mex
lean boil weevil. 1t may, for a
season or two, damage and shorten
the cotton crop of the South, then
its course will be run, its mission
filled, and it will pass away. What
its damage to the crop will be when
it does come we cannot estimate,
but | can confidently assert,
through my knowledge of insect
life, that their ravages upon our
crops will be but temporary. Then
let us prepare to face them by sys-
tematically curtailing our expenses
of making and gathering our crops,
as well as living economically by
raising our hogs and hominy, our
cattle and our fatlings at home.
There are ways by which we can
lessen their damages by destroying
at least some of the insects, and
the surest, the best and the safest
way is by placing bright lights
throughout the infected fields, thus
destroying and clipping the wings
of the female fly, and the cheapest,
the brightest and most effective
light we can get is from plain pine
tar. Saturate a piece of cotton
tow with about a pint of tar, place
this in an old oven or skillet, and
sit it on an elevation above the cot
ton, at distances of say, two hun
dred yards apart, and will ven-
ture the assertion that every moth
that comes within the rays of these
lights will be attracted, singed and
destroyed. | would not advocate
Paris Green or London Purple,
for l tried the. former once on a
field of,army worms and the result
was number of birds fell victims
to the poison.
So much tor the Mexican boil
weevil and now, Mr.. Editor, /
want to engage your attention, as
well as the many readers of your
valued paper, for a little. space up
on the Texas tick question, which
is now being SO deeply agitated.
Notwithstanding the opinions of
Mr.. S. H. Pettiborn of the u. S.
Department of Agriculture, and
the learned gentlemen, Prof. Smith
and DR.. Robert of the A. & M.
College, as well as other noted SCI
entists, | feel warranted in the as