The Lee County journal. (Leesburg, Ga.) 1904-19??, 1913-11-20
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 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 it suf-
fers. These weevils, says the Geor-
gia State Board of Entomology, in
current bulletin, often eat up the corn
in the crib before the mules and the
hogs and the chickens get 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 a 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
a very little expense, says State Ento-
moIogist e. Lee Worsham, by the
simple process of fumigation with car
bon disulphide, volatile liquid OBJ
tainable at any drug store.
WeevI 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 weeyils feed on the grain all win
ter and during the spring; and just
before the corn natures in the fields
the adult weevils leave the nearby
corn cribs and fly to the corn fields
where their eggs are Geposited 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 Gov
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 il" leay
ing the shuck on the ear. It 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 that this does not afford much,
of the weeYil Investigation has dis
closed corn with shucks on 1t 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 fllmigate 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 80.
In the process Of fumigation 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 1000
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. It is a good plan to cover the
top of the corn with old sacks or bur
lap and leave 1t covered from "a to
4S hours while fumigatfon is in prog
ress. It may be necessary to repeat
fumigation in three or four weeks, as
recent experiments made by Dr. w.
E. Kinds Of Alabama have shown that
the weeYiIs are not so easily killed
as many have supposed.
It 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 shell
the corn and store it in sacks, as In
this manner it is better protected and
it can be fumigated just as well and
effectively as when left in the ear.