The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1909-01-21
SOME PRESENT ASPECTS or THE
BOIL WEEvIL PROBLEM.

1908, by w. D. Hunter, in charge of
Southern Field Crop Insect and
Tick Investigation
The planters in regions which are
about to be invaded by the boil
weevil, or in whichh the insect has
only recently made its appearance,
turn naturally to the state Of Texas
for information regarding the event
ual damage the pest will cause. It
is, therefore, important to point out
some of the ways in which the insect
has effected cotton production in
Texas. Statistics of production that
have been kept for many years show
that the average production of lint
per acre before the advent of the
weevil was 40 bale Since the inva-
sion of the weevil the average pro-
duction per acre has been .35 bale.
In other words the insect has caused
a falling off in production of .O5 per
bale per acre. This is 25 pounds of
| lint per acre. At nine cents per 10
| this shows a loss on each acre of
cotton in Texas of two dollars and
| twenty-five cents. The total area in
cotton in Texas has probably been in
the neighborhood of ten million acres.
| Consequently, these figures Indicate
a yearly loss in the entire state of
over twenty-five million dollars.
Different Conditions in Texas and the
Mississippi Valley.
1t is true that Texas has now over
| come, to a certain extent, the rava-
ges of the boil weevil This has beef
partly due to changes in the meth
| Cd OF producing the staple and also
| to the development of the industry
| IN the drier western portion of the
state, where the climatic conditions
| give the boil weevil much less OBJ
| portunity Tor damage than elsewhere.
The important point now is whether
other regions will be able to paral-
| lei the experience of Texas. AS
| soon as we look into the matter we
find number Of striking differences
between the conditions in Texas and
other portions of the Cotton Belt.
We shall compare more particularly
Texas conditions with those in Mis-
sissippi, Louisiana, and Arkansas.
The first CONSPICUOUS difference is
themuch heavier precipitation in the
Mississippi Valley. The rainfall in
the cotton belt of Texas, ASS deter
mined by the average rain fall of
Paris, Dallas, Waco, and College Sta
ton, is 35.5 inches. The average an
nual rainfall for Mississippi, using
the records for Greenville, Yazoo
City, Vicksburg, and Natchez, is 49.5
inches. This is an increase over the
Texas rainfall of fourteen inches, or
considerably more than an inch each
month. The Importance oof this CON-
No,>if Hot
ton is most favorable to the weevil.
The seasons of the greatest rainfall
are those OF greatest weevil damage.
Even now the size of the crop in
Texas is practically measured byl
the rainfall during the growing sea
son.
Why WeeviIs Are Worse in Timber
ed Sections.
Another important difference be-
tween Texas and the Mississippi Val
ley is that there is much more TIM
Der in the latter regions. Practical
ly all of the cotton planted in the
valley is on land cleared more or
less recently, from the forest The
fields are greatly surrounded by tim
Der. There are no large prairie re-
gions like those in Texas 1t has
been the invariable rule that the |
greatest damage by the weevil is in |
the vicinity of timber This is mere
ly on account of the fact that the
insects hibernate in the woods. On
this account, the Mississippi planter
will have to contend each spring
against many more weevils than the
Texas planter.
Much of the cotton in the Miss |
issippi Valley is planted in the riv-
er valleys or along bayous. AS has
been stated, there is much heavier
precipitation in general i'm the Miss
issippi alley than in Texas Poor
~ drained land can produce only a /
late crop. This haes an Important
bearing on the production of an ear
ly crop, such as is required under
boil Weeyil conditions. In this re-
spect, again, the alley planter will
experience difficulties that the plant
er in Texas, where natural condi-
tons have made it comparatively ea-
sy to produce an early crop, has not .
encountered.
The Case. Not Hopeless.