Tensas gazette. [volume] (St. Joseph, La.) 1886-current, 1914-07-10

: Highland, La, July 9Th, 1914.
Editor Tensas Gazette,

= Hlgniano, La, July Old, 1914.
Editor Tensas Gazette,
st. Joseph, La.
Dear Sir:-I wish to give my views
and what have learned about the boil
weevil. You may think, as the msjority |
Of the readers will, that it is not worth |
its room, in so much as do not agree
with the Government experts.
have been engaged in the fight against |
the pest since 1905, and have tried every
thing that have heard Of, and all l
could think OF myself.
1t is a well-known fact that in some
years they are worse than in others and
and some localities are affected worse
than Others. According to my experience
the fret is governed by the preceding
winter. If cold and wet one there are
less weevils in the spring. It depends on
the state OF cultivation the general local.
ity is in. Now the Government claims
that
lst.. They do not eat anything but
cotton.
IL know this is a mistake Ilhave found
them eating different kinds of weeds and
vegetables-those that put up earliest in
spring.
End. 1 am convinced that they breed
very early in spring, particularly il it is
warm. / have found number of young
weevils early that did not hatch out in
fall and before there was any cotton to
breed in.
Now just what will destroy the weevil.
and so make cotton planting profitable
again, no one knows. Ithink if all the
money that is spent in picking the wee
wills and squares were spent in destroying
weeds in fall and spring, and in fact all
the year, there would be less weeviIs. OF
course realize that all you kill are Just
that many lees, but il is like catching
fiees-there are go many left that those
caught cannot be missed, as they con-
tinue to come from the weed fields. OF
course the cotton Tlant il their favorite,
and they will leave all other plants for
the young cotton as the latter grows, to
afford them more desirable sustenance
az well as more comfortable quarters for
propagation of their young. The hot sun
does not kill them but only minimizes
their injurious work. 1t is certainly ben
eficial to the cotton.
1t will cost $4,000 per bale to raise
cotton by gathering the weevils and
squares. A hand can cultivate four acres
while he picks one, and when he gets
over there are just as many the next
time, and every time as long as there il
any thing for them to feed on. Thorough
cultivation is very necessary because it
stimulates the growth of the plant and
compels early maturity, thus interfering
with the work of the weevil.
About seven miles from here there are
three plantations which were kept pretty
clear of weeds all through the month OF
June, and here blooms are plentiful and
bolls not infrequent where the crop has
been properly cultivated.
In other sections, however, with sim
liar cultivation but surrounded by hun
dreds of acres of weeds and grass that
are never burned, there are crops in
which one cannot find at this time an
average of three blooms to the acre daily,
and then only around the edges and ends
Iof cnts where the plant is small and
shaded by timber.
All this know from hard study and
actual experience. / think the money
that has been spent by the Government
to teach the farmers how to kill the wee.
will and make cotton could have been
used with more benefit to the farmer.
There is vast difference between telling
what to do and how to do it and actually
doing.
There are few more things l have
learned in my nine years fight, but
have already taken up too much Of your
valuable space, go will leave the rest for
some future time.
| Yours respectfully,
| N. G. JARRATT.