Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1918-07-12
BOIL WEEVIL PROBLEM
Knockout Drops For The Cotton
Pest.
DEPARTMENT MAKES GOOD PROGRESS
The Idea is to Provide for the WeeVIl
a Poisonous Solution that Will Kill
The Poison Solution May be Put
on for = Dollar an Acre for Each

seems TO he in fair way Of accom-
plishment by the work OF an entomol-
ogist Of the department OF aSricul-
ture.
When that insidious pest, which has
been taking heavy toll of the cotton
crop and annually extending his feed
ing grounds, stops his work OF pune
turing cotton squares and bolls. and
ambles forth to quench his thirst from
a dewdrop or raindrop on the cotton
plant, he is likely in the future TO en-
counter a poisoned draught which viii
he as effective as Knockout drop.
What this means to the cotton grow
ers Of the south and the industry rs
whole can hardly lie estimated in dol
lars and cents, but the curtailmcnt of
the wccvil's activities. even In small
part, Is so important rs TO make TN"
discovery OF the United States de-
partmcnt of agriculture OF the fact
that arscnicals may he used as a
powder spray in controlling this pest
one OF its most striking and valuable
contributions to the agricultural In
dustry.
Mr. b. L. COad of the bureau OF
entomology, while working on some
biological Investigations OF the boil
wcevil, found that although the wee
wills are not hard drinkers they drink
regularly from the rain or dew col
lectcd in droplcts on the leaves of the
cotton plants. Having been on the
trail of the cotton boil weevil for some
time, his logical inquiry was. why
not poison the water which the wee
wills drink" Since 1913. Mr.. Coad.
with n corps Of entomologists with
hcadq,Iartcrs at Tcllulah. La, has
been experimenting with the various
poisons applied in different ways, all
with the purpose of administering Il
dose which would be fatal to these in
sects which have invaded such Il large
part of the cotton producing territory
Of the south. These cntOmologistS
have not finished their work. but they
have proved by n series OF expert
mcnts that boil wccvils can hc pOis-
oned under field conditions and that
the poisoning is a practical method of
controlling the pests. The usual
check plats have been used in these
| experiments, and the results have
| shown that yields of from $50 TO 1000
pounds more of seed cotton per acre
can be raised on sprayed areas than
on the unsprayed plants. The cX-
pcrimcnts have been conducted un-
der many conditions and for several
years, so as to give the method a
complete trial before making the re-
suits known TO the growers. The de-
tails are now being published in q
department bulletin entitled Recent
Experimental Work OF Poisoning Cot
ton Boil Wecvils."
Details Worked Out.
When the experiments were started
again last year 1t was recognized that
the former work had merely demon
lstseted t@SssiblitY of poiRoping
weevils successfully and that many
phases of the economical use Of the
poison still remained to be worked out.
A very elaborate series for that sea
son was planned and about IS tests
were started in the ncighborhood Of
Tallulah, each one intended to deter
mine some particular point of i'm
portancc. The earlier studies had
- .t,it
poisoning was profitable. but II was
known that any change in these con-
ditions might easily result in n much
lower gain If not an actual loss. and
It was essential TO determine thor
oughly the possibilities and limitations
of boil weevil poisoning before the
information would he OF value to the
public. \ peculiar combination of sea-
sonal conditions, however. resulted in
an almost complete absence of wecvil
damage in all of the cotton in which
tests had been planned. The expert
mcnts. therefore, could not he con-
Quoted under the desired conditions Of
heavy wecvil infcstation. Neverthe-
less. the results confirmed those of the
preceding two years. but still left
many gaps in the information essen
tiaf TO outlining n general procedure
for wcevil poisoning. On one Of the
heavily infested areas n gain was
made of so per cent in the sprayed
cotton over that grown on the un-
sprayed area.
a number Of experiments were con-
Quoted also in the north delta in Chi
cot county. near Lake Village, Ark,
and in Washington county. near Scott.
Miss. At both of these points n heavy
infestation. due to different seasonal
conditions. was encountered, and pro-
nounced results were obtained from
the poison. In every case the eX-
periments were conducted on compar-
atively small areas. subject to n con-
tinual influx OF weevils from sur
rounding untreated cotton, hut In
spite of this very definite weevil
control resulted from poisoning. The
open cotton in every case showed n
ucliilltt gum W tiie ldSl ION VI tituN-
ment. The gains per acre ranged
from $50 pounds to 1.007 pounds of
seed cotton. 1t is difficult, of course.
to establish how much larger these
gains would have been if the entire
cuts or entire plantations had been
treated. and thus the migration of
weevils from the imprisoned cotton
prevented. 1t is clear. however. that
the gains secured on the small areas
were exceedingly conservative.
A Large Field Test Successful.
A large scale treatment was made
in August last year on section of an
Arkansas plantation. The cotton grew
on land Of fair quality and was not
planted until late May. Weather con-
ditions had retarded the plans great
ly and they did not start setting the
crop until the latter part Of July.
About the middle of August fair
crop Of bolls had developed. but the
plants were large and leafy. and the
weevils had multiplied so rapidly that
a very heavy infestation OF wecvils