The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1918-07-13
BOIL WEEV|L CONTROL.
DEPARTMENT. OF ACiJCUITgrIE
WORKING ON PROBLEM.
ideal Is to Poison the Water That thc
Destructive Insect Drinks.

cotton boil weevil seems to be i'm =
tair way of accomplishment by the
work of an entomologist OF the de
partment OF agriculture.
When that insidious pest. which has
been taking heavy toll of the cotton
crop and annually extending his fced
inc grounds. stops his worl, of pune
turing cotton squares and bolls, and
ambles forth TO quench his thirst from
a dewdrop or raindrop on the cottc +,
plant. he Is likely in the future to en-
counter poisoned draught which will
be as effective as a knock -out dron.
What this means to the cotton grow.
ers Of the South and the industry as a
whole can hardly be estimated i'm dol
lars and cents. but the curtailment ,f
the weevil's activities, even in small
part, Is so important as to make the
discovery OF the United States de-
partment OF agriculture Of the fact
that arsenicals may be used as q
powder spray i'm controlling this pes,
one OF It's most striking and valuah:s
contributions to the agricultural ~
Gustry.
Mr.. b. II. Coad, of the bureau of
entomology, while working on some
biological Investigations of the boil
weevil. found that although the wee.
wills are not hard drinkers they drink
regularly from the rain or dew col
lected i'm droplets 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
Wis drink 2" Since 1919, Mr.. Coad.
with corps Of entomolog:sts with
headquarters at Teilulah, La. has
been experimenting with various pois-
ons applied In different ways. all with
tese purpose of administering q dose
which would be fatal to .hese insects
which have invaded such a iarg
part OF the cotton producing territory
OF the South. These entomologists
nave not finished their work. but they
have proved by n series of expert
'nents that boil weevils can be poison
ed under field conditions and that the
poisoning is practical method OF con-
trolling the pests. The usual check
plats have been used i'm these expvri-
nonts. and the results have shown
that yields of from $50 to |, 900 pounds
more of seed cotton per acre can be
raised on sprayed areas than on the
unsprayed plats. The experiments
have been conducted under many con-
ditions and for several years, so as to
give the method a complete trial be-
fore making the results known to the
growers. The details are now being
published i'm department bulletin
entitled Recent Experimental Work
OF Poisoning Cotton Boil Weevils."
When the experiments were started
again last year IL was recognized that
the former work had merely demon
strated the possibility OF poisonins
weevils successfully and that many
phases OF the economical use of the
poison still remained to be worked
out. "A very elaborate series for tina,
season was planned and about sew
snty-iivc tests were started in tn"
ueiGhborhood OF Taliu.ah, each one
point of importance. The earlier
studies had shown that under cci
tain conditions poisoning was prof
table. but 1T was known that any
change in. these conditions Nigh,
easily result in a much lower gain, /,
not an actual loss. and it was essen
tial to determine thoroughly the pos
abilities and limitations of boil weevil
poisoning before the Information
would be of value to the public. 4
peculiar combination OF seasonal con
ditions. however. resulted in an al
most complete absence OF weevil dam.
age i'm all of the cotton i'm which tests
had been planned. The experiments
therefore. could not be conducted un
der the desired conditions of heav
weevil infestation. Nevertheless. tn
results confirmed those OF the preced
ing two years. but still left many gaps
i'm the information essential to ou.
lining n general procedure for wcevi
poisoning. ON one of the heavily i'm.
tested areas gain was made of so
per cent i'm the sprayed cotton Owe:
hat grown on the unspraycd area
n number of experiments were con-
Quoted also i'm the north delta in Ch
cot county. near Lake Village. AK.
and i'm Washington county, near Scott
Miss. At both of these points Il heavy