Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1913-10-21
HOW To GET RID Of
THE CORN WEEV|L
Bug Does Great Damage to Georgia
Corn Crop, Says State Board
of Entomology.

Atlanta, Ga.-There's a little black
bug commonly known as the corn or
rice weevil that does as much and
perhaps a good deal more damage to
the Georgia corn crop than any other
pest or disease from which ii suf-
fers. These weevils, says the GeOr
gia State Board of Entomology, in a
current bulletin, often eat up the corn
in the crib before the mules and the
| hogs and the chickens get a good
chance at it.
The presence OF the corn weevil,
the board says, is one of the great
drawbacks to growing corn in Geor
gia. Some years they are so numer-
Gus in certain localities that before
| Christmas the corn is severely dam
aged, and frequently by spring there
is nothing left of the grain but thin
hull. Such corn as this is hardly
suitable to feed to any kind of ami
mails except perhaps to chickens
All this loss could be avoided at
very little expense, says State EntO-
mologist E. Lee Worsham, by the
simple process of fumigation with car
bon disulphide, a volatile liquid OBJ
tainable at any drug store.
Weevil MuItipiies Rapidly.
The corn or rice weevil, it is point
ed out, has a number OF generations
during the year, and under favorable
conditions multiplies very rapidly
The weevils feed on the grain all win.
ter and during the spring; and just
before the corn natures in the fields
h. l,,1A H.,
corn cribs and fly to the corn fields
where their eggs are @eposited on the
ripening corn. Thus, frequently when
the corn is gathered, large number
of larvae-the weevil in its early
| stage-are already in it. 1t has been
observed that where the shuck COW
ers the tip of the ear, the corn is
not so badly infested as where the
tip is exposed.
1t is a common practice in Georgia
to leave the corn in the field until
! after frost and then snap it," leav-
ing the shuck on the ear. 1t is sup
posed by many that the shuck pro-
tects the ear from the weevils. The
board says, however, that it has been
pretty well proven from observations
made thu this does not afford much,
if any, protection from the attacks
of the weevil. Investigation has dis
closed corn with shucks on it just as
badly damaged as corn without the
Shuck. Then, too, the shuck takes
up so much space in the crib that it
is considered bad practice to leave it
on the ear. Soft corn is more sub
ject to attacks by the weevil than
hard corn, but there is no corn SO
hard that it is immune.
Only Practical Remedy.
The best and only practical way to
avoid damage from the corn weevil
is to fumigate the corn as soon as it
is gathered with liquid carbon disul-
phide. For successful fumigation it
is best to have corn crib with bot
tom and sides alright or nearly sc.
In the process o. Ium:gation the
liquid carbon disulphide should be
placed in large shallow pans, and
from fifteen to twenty pounds OF the
LIQUID should be used for each 1900
cubic feet of space in the corn crib.
The pans containing the liquid should
be placed on top of the corn. The
LIQUID evaporates very rapidly, and the
gas, which is heavy and penetrating,
sinks and spreads throughout the corn
crib. 1t is a good plan to cover the
top of the corn with old sacks or bur
lap and leave it covered from "a to
As hours while fumigation is in prog
ress. 1t may be necessary to repeat
fumigation in three or four weeks, as
recent experiments made by DIR. w.
f. Kinds of Alabama have shown that
u,
as many have supposed.
1t is a good practice to shuck the
corn as it is being pulled and sepa-
rate the infested corn from that which
is free from the weevil. The infest-
ed corn should then be stored to it
self and fumigated.
Again it is a good practice to she'll
the corn and store it in sacks, as in
this manner it is better protected and
1t can be fumigated just as well and
oTootiUoly &c whom left in the ear