St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1909-12-25
ARSENATE OF LEAD
KILLS The WEEVIL
Experiments win New Poison 1 success, says
louisiana Crop Psst Commission.
BULLETIN BEING PREPARED
sevsnty.Oas Per Csni Increase Is Clafnsa By
Use Of The Peison...No ExtFavagance Claim
Is Maas for Desiracllye.

Baton Rouge, La, Dec. 19.-That
long step toward the final solution
of the boil weevil problem has been
taken, is the frank opinion Of the few
who have been permitted to examine
the manuscript of large bulletin
shortly to be issued by the State Crop
Pest Commission, under the author
ship Of Entomologist Wilmon Newell
and his assistant G. D. Smith. The
bulletin comes as the sequel to many
months Of tedious investigation and
experiment, Ia the course Of which
Messrs. Newell and Smith have de-
veloped successful method of poi
soning the over wintered boil weevils
in spring and early summer. The
! bulletin in question is Circular No. 81
of the State Crop Pest Commission,
entitled Powdered Arsenate of Lead
as q Practical Boil Weevil Poison. !"
i The contents of the manuscript have
been closely guarded. as it's writer's
did not wish to make any public an
nouncement until perfectly sure Of
their ground
4 long list Of experiments, in diff
terent parts of the State, are des-
cribed in detail. All were SO ar
ranged that the production Of cotton
treated with powdered arsenate of
lead in q proper manner could be ac-
curately compared with that Of the
| same kind Of cotton not treated. In
some experiments the cotton produc-
| tion was more than doubled BY the
intelligent use Of powdered arsenate
of lead. In others the margin Of
i profit was small, but definite, un-
questionable profit from the use Of
the poison was obtained in twelve ex-
EperIments out Of thirteen. The aver
age increase in the crop where the
poison was used was Ut per cent.
The average production Of the cot
ton, all experiments, which was
treated with the poison, was 673
pounds Of seed cotton per acre. The
average production of the cotton, all
experiments, which was treated with
| the poison, was 67S pounds Of seed
cotton per acre. The average pro-
duction Of all similar cotton, not poi
aoned, was 392 pounds per acre
] The bulletin makes it clear that
success does not depend alone upon
the use Of this poison. AS much, or
more, depends upon the manner of
| application TO the cotton plants. The
amount applied, the time of applica-
tion and the carefulness with which
the work is done all 70 toward de-
/ termlning whether the use Of the
powder is success or failure. APP
plicatiOns Of the powdered lead ar
] senate made, for example, by dusting
the poison onto the cotton from a
sack, as is done in poisoning the leaf
worm with Paris green, always prove
to be failures. The authors think
i they have nnearthed q new principle
lin the application Of insecticides and
particularly in the application Of this
poison for the boil Weevil The ap-
! plications, IN all the experiments,
were made with dusting guns, ma
chimes which force the powder irso
! the terminal buds Of the tton plants
with powerful blast Of air. By this
means the poison IS made TO reach
imany OF the feeding places Of the
W, ~ mse.ia 49, .''as ., oga'u hoe 0s tsasusu
Powdered araenate If lead q ! mn.
am which has been develoned bv Mr.
j Newell dnrinp the corrsa If his invas.
locations of the Weav;l dnr;ng tha
Ilast four wears ii Is 4 white "a.
nalnahIa nowder having the same
chemical eomposition IS the naste
lead arsenate If commerce Unlike
paris green. il does not contain any
soluble arsenic hence can b, applied
tn the cotton plants ii enormous
auantities without any iniury to the
niants themselves Ii some Of the
experimepts Is much as ffty pounds
of the poison were applied to each