Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1918-07-09
Government EntomoIogist Has
Made Discovery That May
Mean Millions in Pockets OF
Southern Farmers

WASHINGTON, July Control OF
- Iair way OF accomplishment by the
work OF an enJOmOlogist OF the depart
Iuent OF agriculture.
When that insidious pest, which has
been taking heavy toll of the cotton
cop .Ed annually extending his feed
sl., grounds, stops his work OF pune
turing cottJI squares and Golls, and
ambIes forth t. quench his th.rst from
a de~,lroD or raindrop on the cotton
plant he - likely in the future To en-
euuuter a POISONED draught which Will
b effective as a Knockout drop. What
this means TO the cotton growers Of
the south and the industry as a whole
can hardly be estimated in dollars and
cents, but the curtailment OF the wee
wills activities. even in small part, IS
so important as TO maze the discoN-
cry by the United States department OF
agriculture OF the fact that arsenicals
may be used as powder spray in con-
trolling this pest one of its most strl&-
ing and valuable contributions 10 the
agricultural industry.
weevils DRINK Regularly
b. r. Coad, OF the bureau of ento-
mology, while working on some bio
logical inVestig ttisns OF. the boil Wee
vii. found tha- although the weevils
are not hard GIinkCIs they drink reg
ularly from tlIe rain or dew collect
ed in droplsIs on the leaves or the cot
ton plants. Having been on the trail
Of the cotton DOLL weeVil for some time
his logical inquiry was why not pois-
on the water wh!cr the weevils drink?
Since 1918, Mr.. Coal, with a corps of
entomologists with headquarters at Tai
lulah. La. has been experimenting with
various poisons applied in different
ways, all with the purpose of admins
tering a dose which would be fatal to
these insects which have invaded such
a large part of the cotton-producing ter
ritory of the south. These entomolo-
gists have not finished their work, but
they have proved by a series of expe-
riments that boil weevils can be poison
ed under field conditions and that the
poisoning is a practical method Of con-
trolling the pests. The usual check
plats have been used in these expert
ments. and the results have shown
that yields from $50 to 1000 pounds
more of seed cotton per acre can be
raised on sprayed areas than on the I'M
sprayed plats. The experiments have
been conducted under many conditions
and for several years, so as to give
the method a complete trial before
making the results known to the grow
ers. The details are now being publish
ed in a department bulletin entitled
Recent Experimental Work in Poison
ing Cotton Boil Weevils."
Details Worked Out
When the experiments were started
again last year il was recognized that
the former work had merely demon
strted the possibility of poisoning vice.
wills successfully and that many phases
of the economical use of the poison still
remained to be worked out. A very
elaborate series of that season was
planned and about rs tests were started
in the neighborhood of Tallulah. each
one intended to determine some par
ticular point of Importance. The ear
lier studies had shown that under GER
tain conditions poisoning was profit
able, but il was known that any change
in these conditions might easily result
in a much lower gain if not an actual
loss, and it was essential to determine
thoroughly the possibilities and limita-
tions of boil weevil poisoning before
the information would be of value to
the public. A peculiar combination OF