The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1919-07-22
DUST UPON COTTON
+. IS WEEV|L ENEMY
Pest of White Crop Requires
Water to Drink, Hence
Dust Is Fatal.

STARKVILLE, Miss, July 22.-The
rainy season during the spring and
early summer, together with the con
sequent alarming Increase In the mum.
bers OF boil w%eevils, has brought up
again the ever important question
among cotton producers OF What shall
We do" a great deal Of interest Is
felt throughout the state In the ex
perimental work conducted during the
past few years at Tallulah, La, by Di-
rector Coad OF the bureau of entomol-
ogy.. with a poison for weevils ap-
piled by busting the cotton plant, since
this effor IL regarded as the most
promising possibility Of mastering the
weevil.
Weevils Need Water.
The theory on which this work is
based is the fact, determined through
years OF intimate study Of the life hab-
its OF the pest, that the weeVil demands
water quite frequently, The only man
ner in which this water may be had
a. FREQUENT n regular intervals is for
the weevil to drink the dew that col
lects on the leaves Of the plant. Mr..
Coad believes that II a chemical sub
stance is placed on the plant that will
remain there for some time and that
will constitute n deadly poison when
Weevil will meet his fate rs he
auenches his morning thirst.
Test work has been carried on al
Tallulnh for three years, Three years
ago, when the weevil infestation was
heavy, some of the results obtainet
we're little short OF marvellous, During
the past two years, on account Of the
small number Of weevils, resulting In
a practically normal crop on all lands
very little information be had from
the tests. Even with that information
however. one big delta firm has SUI
ficient faith in the Coad method to
invest $40, 900 in busting equipment, and
another has invested S25 900 for the
same purpose.
With this encouraging information II
Is unfortunate that there are only five
factories equipped to manufacture dust
ing machines, and that the entire out
put from these factories has been sold
for months. This condition Is especial.
ly regrettable because of the heavy In
festation Of weevils throughout the
state.
Only Experimental.
As great as the possibilities OF this
method now seem TO be, however, farm
ers OF the state should not raise theil
hopes too high. for the Coad method
must pass beyond the experimental
stage before 1t can be regarded as q
definite cure. Until that time IL
reached and until the busting method
| proves VI |ulupuultu value, II IL puN0lhlN
best that the government and well-to.
do farmers should conduct more ex'
haustive and more general tests, rathel
thar the small farmer who cannot ar
ford to experiment,
Altogether, the Coad method OF dust
ing seems TO have possibilities create
than any weevil treatment yet intro,
duced, and the men who have closet!
observed the work at Tallulah station
and elsewhere under the supervision o
that station, have hopes that at las
a solution TO the boil weevll problem 1
at hand, In the meantime. experiment.
are being conducted on a much large
scale all over the cotton growing belt
and the results this year will Target,
determine It's value,
Farmers who are interested may Sc
cure complete information concerninD
the treatment and the results Of tn
work conducted by the Tallulah static
by writing the United States depart
ment Of agriculture, Washington, u, c
and requesting bulletin No, u. \ list q
manufacturers of the poison solutto
and busting machine may be had b
writing the experiment station. Agrt
cultural College. Miss,