Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1919-07-29

the soil. We would put them on a
| few days in advance of the applica-
ton of the other material
These are the oest suggestions V g
can offer you under the existing Cir
| cumStanceS
CAN THE BOIL WEEvI1 BE
POISONED sUCCESSEULhYP
T. B. c.. MI Vernon, Ga, writes: The
boil weevil is here in abundance and
have no farm demonstration. ; am pick
ing up the squares from my cotton and
burning them. Has the poison advocated
by some proven a success? 1t is very
expensive and how much does it take
per acre. How long does it take the
weevil to mature after square has
been puncturef?
1t is unfortunate that you do not
happen to have "a county demonstra-
tor i'll your community, as he could
present time We greatly regret our
| inability to provide every county
with a demonstration. This, Of
course is due to our inability to Sc
cure funds to meet the requirements
of such a large number of counties
ynunities faced with the invasion OF
the boil weevil need the services OF
such a man., and he can earn his
cost toSa community in very. short
About the only thing you can do
to help your cotton at the present
time is to proceed along the line you
say you are following. AS to the
poisoning of the cotton against the
depredations of the weevil, 1 beg to
say that this is a new plan which
has probably not been tried out suf-
ficiently yet to fully demonstrate its
value and merit. We are conducting
some fourteen demonstrations in the
state of Georgia at this time to test
out this plaza We will know a great
e.
we do at present. The investiga-
lions originally made in Mississippi
through the agency of the govern
ment were not deemed to have DEM
onstrated their value sufficiently
well to justify the undertaking OF
tests in other states until this year,
The material used for fighting the
weeyll is calcium arsenate, contain
ing 40"per cent of arsenic. You can
secure this. material from any large
dealer in products of this character.
About five applications should be
made during the year two weeks
apart It will cost about 81 to $1.5O
to make each application. The ap-
plications should be made in the
early morning late at night. The
poison should be put on the cotton
plants with a dust gun, which VIII will
several types of these on the. mar
ket which should give satisfactory
results. There are, of course, power
sprayers, but they are very costly
and could only be used on large
plantations.
The theory of poisoning the boil
weevil depends entirely on the fact
that this insect obtains the water it
needs from drinking dew. By put
ting the very finely busted calcium
arsenate on the cotton the little par
ticlss are disseminated through the
dew, and only a very small amount
of the poison is needed to kill the
weeNil. 1t is believed that by spend
ing IS to $40 per acre for spraying
the weevil dapredations can be held
in. check quite materially and the
yield OF seed cotton increased from
200 to 1000 pounds per acre over
what it would be were no attempt
made to poison the weeyil.
This is the situation in brief as it
exists at the present time and gives
you. all the informa ton available or
likely to be of service under exist
ing conditions. =. .tr
About three days after the boil
weevil has laid an egg the grub has
attained considerable size, and is
well grown in about ten days. In
seventeen days or thereabouts it
energies from the square as full
grown adult weevil. ...