The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1909-12-15
THE ENEMY Of
KING COTTON
THE BOIL WEEVIL AND HER 1884,
100000 CHILDREN IS MEANT
PEST HARD TO EXTERMINATE

PEST HARD TO EXTERMINATE.
Now that cotton in commercial guam
titles is a thing of the immediate flu
ture in Hawaii, big query mark pre-
sents itself in the matter of existing
or prospective pests, That many re-
ccgnized cotton pests already exist here
is admitted but for specific reasons
they probably need never be feared.
or all the pests, however, the boil
weevil is the greatest, the meanest and
the hardest to destroy. He is not
here, and the possibility of his intro
duction with a proper restriction up
on the importation of cotton seed from
infected districts) is very remote. How
ever, it is well for prospective cotton
magnates to know something of this
king of cotton pests, and the following
from New Orleans paper on the sub
| ject is quite accurate and is interest
ing:
The boil weevil is undoubtedly the
most serious menace the cotton planter
has ever faced Until it arrived there
was apparently nothing to prevent
steady increase IN cotton production
answering to charging demands OF
the world, as it was generally held
that within the area now devoted to
cotton raising there could be produced
double the present crop. This bright
outlook faded before the weevil, al
though the earlier apprehensions of a
possible abandonment of cotton raising
as a result of it's ravages have sub
sided.
In 1895 the weevil was not known in
this country outside Of few counties
on the southern Texas coast. By 1903
lit had extended northward over much
Of eastern Texas and in October Of
that year it established isolated colo
MES in Louisiana BY 1906 the enemy
had entered nearly all of the cotton
counties of Texas, had overspread
Louisiana and was present in parts Of
Oklahoma and Arkansas, and it has
since invaded Mississippi.
Some idea of the damage wrought
may be obtained from comparison
of yields in ten counties that were free
from the weevil in 1892 but badly in
Tested in 1902. The yield in the lat
ter year was only AZ per cent as great
as in the former.
The pest is hard to eXterminate on
, account of it's habits and rapidity of
growth and multiplication. AS its
name indicates, the boil weevil passes
nearly all of it's life in the fruit OF
the plant, and cannot be reached
with poisons From egg to adult stage
requires but fourteen days, and a
, single pair will lay enough eggs in a
. season to reproduce 134,0OO,OO0 indi-
: viduals.
Much good was expected from the
introduction of the Guatemalan ant, in
it's own country the natural enemy of
the weevil but this importation sue
} cumbed to changed climatic conditions.
A native ant, however, known as So
, lenopsis geminata and which travels
. up and down the cotton stalk, has
Z taken issue with the weevil, first fight
= ing him as an interloper and later
hunting him out as an article of diet
According to the bureau of entomology
Solenopsis geminata is responsible for
the destruction of more than half the
weevils that fall before their natural
enemies Good results have followed
the introduction Of new cultural me
thods, such as burning the cotton stall
in the fall as soon as possible after thu
last of the crop has been gathered
and by inducing speedy maturity o
the following seasons crop through
early planting and the use of fertile
ers.--New Orleans Picayune.
n