Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1916-07-08
WEEVIL AT WORK
 IN MANY FIELDS
 SOUTH ARKANSAS
Situation Is Serious, and Action Must Be Taken at
 Once, Says Lassetter.

Reports coming from all over Gen. tral and Southern Arkansas show that the weevil is already at work in many fields. This early appearance of the weevil will mean almost the total de- struction of the August crop, as we'll as a partial destruction of the July taken to prevent the rapid increase of sistant director of extension. Right is the most critical time in the bool weevil fight.
 According to Prof. G. G. Becker, cultural experiment station, an in- acre will be sufficient to kill all plants, even during the heaviest fruit
 "One pair of weevils coming out frost, have 250,000 living descendants, and for each pair of weevils in the field at this time we can expect thou sands of living descendants by the middle of August, or enough infesta- Ulofl GO NH dll ouudltS lOI1ilGu Oil ocV- eral acres of cotton," he say. eff we are to avoid heavy infestation during August we must destroy, as far as possible, all weevils as fast as they appear at this time of the year. The only way to prevent this rapid mul- tiplication is through the destruction of the squares which contain the young. It is commonly known that when the weevil punctures the square, it deposits an egg which hatches out, and in a few days time grows into a young weevil. After square has been punctured it soon turns yellow and flares open and in few days falls off the plant. These flared squares are very easy to see on the plant, and it is simple matter to pick up after they have fallen to the ground or to pick them off the plant. If all flared squares are picked up every seventh day and destroyed, the spread of the weevil can be kept un- der control"
 This Is Critical Period.
 After the weevils are in the field in large numbers it will be too late to accomplish much in this way. The time for effective work is the time when the weevil first makes it's ap- pearance in the field. It's first appear ance is usually in isolated spots, over which it will be an easy matter to pick the squares. By carefully pick ing up and destroying all squares where the Weevil first makes it's ap- pearance, the infestation can be kept from spreading to other parts of the field Right at this time the weevils are not in the field in extremely large numbers. During the next three weeks is the critical time. Get them now. Every square containing a young weevil that is destroyed now will mean several hundred fewer weevils during the month of August. l Where there is danger of boil weevil infestation the cotton must be so managed as to make it fruit very rapidly in order to produce as heavy 6 crop as possible before the weevil 1 becomes numerous enough to destroy , the squares, consequently, continued rapid shallow cultivation is very necessary at this time, and such cul- tivation should be continued until the crop is practically mature. Keep up cultivation and hasten the fruiting as much as possible. and above all pick up and destroy the first squares that are punctured in order to prevent an over abundance of weevils and the , loss of almost the entire August crop. The Weevil is serious menace, and immediate and drastic action must be taken if the cotton is to be saved. Cotton can be grown in spite of the boil weevil, but it takes work to do it. The important thing is to find and de- stroy the weevil when he first ap- pears.