Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1911-09-19
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 1e, 1911.

South Carolina, but for a number of
years a resident Of the state Of Texas,
is the man who captured the insect.
Mr.. Hudson recently arrived In Green
vile for a short visit, and while at one
of the cotton gins in the city yesterday
morning he noticed the insect crawl
ing about on a load OF seed cotton.
He plucked the insect from the cotton
and asked standersby II they knew
what 1t was The owner Of the cotton
said that he did not know what the in
sect was, but that he had seen num-
bers Of them this year. The gentle
man from Texas then stated that the
insect was nothing more or less than
genuine Mexican boil weevil. Mr..
Hudson has spent many years In Tex
as, a state which has been hit hard by
the boil weevil, and he Is perfectly fa-
miliar with the insect. That his Judg-
ment in pronouncing the insect captur-
ed yesterday genuine Mexican boil
weevil is correct, Is not to be doubted.
This Is not the first time reports have
reached the city Of the finding of
bugs" supposed to be boil weevils in
this county. A little over one month
ago a citizen Of the Mauldin section OF
the county sent to the News office an
insect which he thought to be a boil
weevil. The animal was about one
quarter Of an inch in length and had
the long snout-like proboscis, said to be
characteristic OF this species OF the
weevil tribe. The same bug" was
identified by a gentleman, who had
travelled extensively through Texas, as
the boil weevil which has caused such
destruction to the cotton crop In Sec
tions Of the south. Just a few days
previous to the finding Of this insect
No In afn f0
the News from Seneca, stating that
several insects believed to be boil Vice.
wills had been found in sections Of Oco-
nee county. II the Insect found at
Mauldin, the ones found In Oconee
county and this one discovered yester-
day are really boil weevils, II would
seem that the pest has really invaded
South Carolina. The bug" brought to
the News Office yesterday corresponds
with the description given Of the Mex
lean boil weevil in the New Internation-
al Encyclopaedia. The following de-
scription is given of the weevil tribe
and the boil weevil, in particular: The
most destructive, perhaps OF the whole
series, however, Is the 'sharpshooter,
picudo,' an insect most widely known
as the Mexican cotton boil weeviL
(Anthonomus grandis.) This insect,
whose normal habitat Is Central Amer
lea and the West Indies, and whose raw
ages stopped the cultivation Of cotton
in the Monclova district of the state OF
Coahuila, Mexico, In 1868, made its ap-
pearance In the vicinity Of Matamoras
about 1888, spread across the river to
Brownsville, Texas, and at the close OF
1902, ranged over practically all OF the
best cotton growing regions OF Texas,
where In 1901 and in 1902 It's ravages
were estimated at about $10.000.000.
The adult insect Is a small, long -snout-
ed, grayish weevil less than one-quarter
of an inch long. Throughout the sea-
son 1t punctures and lays its eggs In
the squares and bolls. The larvae Is
fat, white maggot, little over three
eignts of an inch long, when full grown,
and lives upon the internal assures OF
the buds and the bolls. When the
square Is attacked, 1t usually drops,
but most of the damaged bolls remain
upon the plant and become stunted or
dwarfed except late in the season, when
they either dry or rot. The larvae pu-
pates within the boil, which may con-
tain several larvae. The adult weevils
hibernate In grass, In late corn stalks.
in old bolls on the cotton plant, and In
piles Of seed about the cotton gin, etc.
They appear when the cotton begins to
blossom, or earlier, and feed upon the
young twigs and leaves. There are
four or more generations each sum-
mer, the larvae being found as late as
December. No plant food other than
cotton Is known. The infestation OF q
field is evidenced from the dropping Of
the blossom. The department Of agri-
culture recommends as the best REM
edy, early planting, thorough cultiva-
tion, the planting Of wide rows. In or
der to admit the sun, and the destruc-
ton Of the plant by fall blowing and
fire in the autumn"