The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-12-23
DEFEATS BOIL WEEVl
EXPERIMENTS WITH NEW POISON
A suCCDog.

Loua91nna Off1e1als PreDaR1ng rnpof-
tnnt Bullstin--Averuee Increase
81 seventy-0ns Per Csnt By
use-No Extravagant
Claims Are nGads
For Destructive.
Baton Rogue Special to New Orleans
Times-Democrat.
That long step toward the final
solution Of the boil weevii problem
has been taken. is the frank opinion
OF the few who have been permitted
to examine the manuscript OF q large
bulletin shortly to be issued BY the
state Crop Pest Commission. under the
authorship of Entomoiogist wilmon
Newell and his assistant. q. ID. Smith.
The bulletin comes as the sequel to
many months OF tedious investigation
and experiment. In the course Of which
Messrs. Newell and Smith has develop
ed q successful method Of poisoning
the oyer-wintered boil weevils In
spring and early summer. The bulie-
tin In question II Circular No. SO OF
the State Crop Pest Commission, en-
titled Powdered Arsenate OF Lead as
Practical Boil Weevil Poison. "
The contents Of the manuscript have
been closely guarded. as its writer's
did not wish to make any public an-
nouncement until perfectly sure OF
their ground.
A long list Of experiments. in diff
ferent parts OF the state. are described
In detail. All were 30 arranged that
the production Of cotton treated with
powdered arsenate of lead In proper
manner could be accurately compared
with that OF the same kind OF cotton
not treated. In some experiments the
cotton production was more than
doubled by the Intelligent use of
powdered arsenate OF lead. In others
the margin of profit was small. but
a definite. unquestionabie profit from
the use Of the poison was obtained In
twelve experiments out OF thirteen
The average increase In the crop
where the poison was used was II per
cent The average production Of the
cotton. all experiments. which was
treated with the poison. was SIS
pounds OF seed cotton per acre. The
average production of all similar cot
ton. not poisoned. was as2 poundv per
acre.
The bulletin makes II clear that suc-
cess does not depend alone upon the
use OF this poison. As much or more
depends upon the manner Of appiica-
lion 10 tu6 GOltVA RAoMkH. Inv 8ha96At
applied, the time OF application and
the carefulness with which the work
IL done all go toward determining
whether the use OF the powder il q
success or q failure. Applications. of
the powdered lead arsenate made. for
example, by dusting the poison onto
the cotton from sack, az II done In
poisoning the leaf worm with paris
green. always prove to be failures
The authors think they have uuearth-
cd o new principle in the application
OF insecticides and particularly In the
application OF this poison for the boil
weevil. The applications IN all the
experiments, were made with busting
guns. machines which force the pow
der into the terminal buds of the cot
ton plants with powerful blast OF
air. BY this means the poison In
made to reach many OF the feeding
places of the boil weevii that could
not be reached by any other means.
Powdered arsenAte Of lead IL a
poison which has been developed BY
Mr.. Newell during the course OF his
Investigations OF the weevil during
the last four years. II 10 Q white,
impalpabie powder. having the same
chemical composition as the paste
lead arsenAte OF commerce. Unlike
paris green, IL does not contain any
| soluble arsenic, hence can be applied
to the cotton plants In enormous guam
| titles without any injury to the plants
themselves. In some of the expert
ments as much as fifty pounds OF the
poison were applied to each acre OF
cotton between June / and August !.
These experiments showed profit
from its use. but the greatest amount
of net profit was obtained where
-. A.A 40 fnnaanAa nar
acre were used In the course OF five
applications
No Extravagant Claims.
The authors do not claim that full
cotton crop can be made by the use
of the powdered arsenate; nor do they
claim that II will make a crop on lani
that is totally unsuited to the growth
OF cotton under boil weevil conditions
The experiments do make clear. how
ever, that proper and intelligent use
of this poison will materially increase
the crop and do IL at a profit undei
all conditions whore a crop is now
possible.
The writers of Circular No. 9;
frankly predict that nine farmers Out
of every ten will fail in the use OF
this poison at the first attempt. Sue
cess seems to depend upon the far
mer understanding perfectly the prin-
ciples upon which successful poison
ing of the boil weeyil Is based and
upon the work of poisoning being
done with extreme care and with the
proper machinery.
The adoption of this new agent fol-
destroying the weevil pest does not
call for any change in the improved
cultural methods as now practiced
On the contrary, IL proves TO be the
long desired weapon which the farmer
can use to turn Q "break-even" crop
into a profitable one. or TO increase
| the profits from a crop that woul1
otherwise yield but small PROFIT
The use OF this poison will not pro-
tect the top crop and its use In late
summer and autumn il considered az
| money thrown away. 1t can be
utilized only for destruction OF the
boil weevils which hibernate success
fully and which appear in the fields
in spring and early summer. Full al
lowauce is made for the fact that
weevils do not all emerge from hiber-
nation at any given time, some re-
naming in winter quarters until APP
proximately July 1.
The use of powdered arsenate OF
lead Just before the first squares APP
pear on the cotton plants, when APP
piled as directed by Messrs. Newell
| and smith, results in destruction OF
practically ell boil weevils then In tht
| fields, The lnfestation caused BY
weevils emerging from winter quar-
| tiers after that time is retarded 81
| further applications OF the poison. A
| considerable number Of the insects
can be killed with the arsenate after
cotton is in fruitage, but the rate OF