The Green Forest tribune., 1915-01-01

There is no possibility of entirely weevil. Various plans have been of fered, but all of them have been found far from practical. Even the most promising suggestion-that of plant ing no cotton for an entire year would not prove effective, as has been shown by Dr. W. D. Hunter of the United States bureau of entomology; for the reasons among others that there is always some volunteer cotton upon which the weevils might feed, and some of them would manage to get through the season by feeding on other plants.
 With just few of them living through the season and a single fe- male producing as many as 12,500,000 progeny in a single year, 1t is appa- rent that they would soon be back again as busy as ever. The only prac- tical plan then, Is to seek to control the pest and keep it down by every possible means. This is the plan that has been adopted by the United States bureau of entomology and by the va rious states which must deal directly with the problem.
 The Georgia state board of ento- mology, under the direction of D. Lee Worsham, has been at wol ,r years preparing the Georgia co ,n growers against the coming of tae boil weevil, and based upon the work which has been done, Doctor Hunter has stated that Georgia Is further ad- vanced in the matter of protective measures than any other state which has been attacked by the weevil.
 In his bulletin Secretary 5yUcrsh am has pointed out the various we'll. known methods of control. Climate, as he shows, has very direct effect upon the abundance of the weevil. Hot, dry weather during the summer months may kill hundreds of the lar vac; drought may prevent the forma- tion of squares and thus give the wee- wills no place to deposit their eggs. Excessive cold weather in winter will kill thousands of them in winter quarters. Many of them are drowned also by excessive rains or overflows, and sudden cold snaps destroy them in large numbers.
 Birds are one of the most impor- tant natural enemies of the boil wee vii. There are 53 species which feed on the adult bug. Among the most important birds attacking them are blackbirds, meadow larks, sparrows, wrens and titmice.
 While the foregoing agencies assist materially in preventing the multipli- cation of the weevil, they cannot be largely depended upon. Known meth Ods of control must be used by the farmer. Poisons are absolutely inef- fective because the weevil is so thor oughly protected by living through out the most of it's life inside the cot ton buds. Cultural methods are the only really effective ones. Among the most important methods recommend ed in Doctor Worsham's bulletin are destroying dead stalks in the fall; clean cultivation, crop rotation, early planting, fertilizing ard working, manipulating of fallen squares, the planting of early varieties and varie- ties which do not form top crop in the late fall, which show a tendency to proliferate, which tend to retain the infested squares instead of shedding them, and those which have a hairy growth on the stems, which impedes the progress of the weevil.
 Rotation of crops is not only of ben eft to the soil, but may result in placing the new cotton crop at point, a considerable distance from wherS the weevils hibernate. Thus weakened by winter, many of them will die be- fore reaching the cotton and it will have better opportunity to reach it's growth before being attacked. If a rapid early growth can be secured by early planting, the cotton will have made considerable progress before the weevils get in motion. The stronger, faster growth a planter can get early in the spring, the more he can hope to make. The planting should come at tho earliest possible ate after the ground is right. Fertilizing and work ing mean quick, strong growth. They often mean the difference between suc- cess and failure. Hand-picking of fall en squares, which should be burned, gets rid of many of the parasites.
 Alabama, Georgia and South Caro-. lima, Doctor Worsham points out, have a more serious problem than the other states, because early varieties of cot ton which are less subject to attack by the bon weevil have another en- emy in these states in the disease