The leader-enterprise. [volume] (Fitzgerald, Ga.) 1912-1915, 1913-10-24
HOW TO GET RID OF
THE CORN WEEWL
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 weevn that does as much and
perhaps good deal more damage to
the Georgia corn crop than any other
| pest or disease from which it suf-
| 1ers. These weevils, says the Geor-
gla 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.
ga. 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. volatile liquid OBJ
Io4udUAc at any drug store.
WeeVil Muttiplies 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
| the adult weevils leave the nearby
| corn cribs and fly to the corn fields
| Where their eggs are deposited on the
ripening corn. Thus, frequently when
the corn is gathered, large number
OF larvae-the weevil in it's 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 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 we'll proven from observations
made that this does not afford much,
II 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 SUBJ
| 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-
phlde. For successful fumigation it
is best to have corn crib with bot
tom and sides alright or nearly so.
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. 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
4S hours while fumigation is in prog
ress. 1t 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 WeevilS are not so easily killed
as many have supposed
1t is 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
it can be fumigated just as we'll and
effectively as when left in the ear.