The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1916-12-14

Suf - w EohSi, Souhss cShS
Agent.
In the year 1892 the boil weevil
crossed the Rio Grande river near
Brownsville. Texas Previous to this
time, not much WAS knowa about
this insect, 1t is not Known whether
it flew across or was carried IN seed
cotton that was ginned at Browns
vile. Since this time. however the
boil weevil has extended its range
annually from 40 to 20 miles until
now it has covered almost the entire
cotton belt.
In combating any insect it is alb
solutely necessary to know the life
history of the insect. We should
know the food plants. whether it
gets it's food by biting or sucking,
what time the greatest damage is
done, what stage of the insects life
does it do this Injury, and in fact all
the insects habits. For the insects
that bite we can. in many cases, use
poison, but if the insect sucks the
juices of the plant. we have to re-
sort to sprays or powder that have
an offensive odor or that has burn
iEg effect. 1t is to this first class Of
insects that the boil weevil belongs;
he gets his food by chewing. On
account of this fact, it is possible to
poison some of the adults or grown
weevils with powdered arsenate of
lead with a powder gun at the be-
ginning of the growing season. The
results from this method has not
been very good, owing to the cost,
but when the weevils come in large
numbers it is quite paying proro-
sition.
While the control of the boil wee
vii does depend somewhat on COM
munity work, the work of the indi-
vidual farmer will not reach much
further than his own farm unless
his neighbor makes no effort at all
to control the number of grown
weevils that pass over the winter.
This fact will be taken up later, but
| Just mention it to show that the
work towards control will prove sue
cessful even if every farmer in the
neighborhood docs not make efforts
along this line
There are seven features in the
life-history of the boil weevil that
are Of vital Importance:
O.. The boil weevil has no food
plant but cotton.
~. The death rate during the
winter is very great.
(3). He emerges from Information
very slow until midsummer.
(4). The development is very slow
until hot weather.
(5). The drying of infested squares
destroys the immature weevilS.
Co.. The weevil IS attacked by
numerous enemies.
CO. The weevil has but little abil-
ity to get out of the ground when
covered with wet soil.
Under field conditions the boil
weevil will not eat anything but cot
ton, but when confined in cages they
will eat bananas, apples. etc. They
will eat these things before they
Starve but when in the field they
show no inclination for these things.
The boil weevil does not migrate
very far from the field in which it
is matured, so by the rotation of
crops they will remain in the old
fields and starve. By this method
alone we are able to note a marked
decrease in the number of weevils
fhe next year. The Extension Di-
vision of the Department of Agri-
culture has worked out new three
year rotation for this State in which
cotton can be grown under weevil
conditions. The new rotation is as
follows: Divide the farm into three
equal parts. On the first part of
farm, we plant cotton; on the Sec