Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1919-10-28

In destroying cotton stalks sew
eral methods may be followed. They
may be rooted up with a scooter or
bull tongue or they may be ploWed
under. Any method that will effec-
lively c Yer them into the soil to
a good depth is satisfactory. The
thing is to kill the cotton plants as
soon as practicable. The average
farmer will say that he will then
gather no top crop of cotton. When
boil weevil infestation is bad there
will never be a top crop of cotton.
All that the farmer can expect to
harvest will be from these bolls
which set on early near the base of
the plant. This cotton will open
relatively early and if there is any
growth to the plant or development
ut the top the weevils, while still
finding an abundance of food, will
cffectually prevent any development
of the bOlls so as to make them
worthy of harvest. There is no rea-
son, therefore, why cotton stalks can
not be destroyed as early as is neces
sary, to destroy the Weevils food
supply without lessening in any way
the returns obtained by the farmer.
Get Ready Now
Now is the time OF year to get
ready to fight the weevil. Everyonu
in other sections of the west where
the weevil has become well estab-
lished will unite in saying that the
destruction of the stalks is one of
the most effective methods of con-
trolling this pest and lessening the
damage it will be in position to do
to next years crop, AS a rule, the
stalks of cotton should be ploWed
under at least four weeks before
frost occurs. Remember that the
food supply of this pest consists
primarily of the juice of the cotton
plant. A dead stalk does not furnish
any juice. From this statement a
good many might conclude that bur
ing would be an effective method
In some calculations we have made
it has been found that to burn the
stalks would result in the loss say
of forty pounds of nitrogen per acre,
which at 25c or soc a pound would
be a heavy item Of expense. There
is no reason why the stalks should
be burned, as the same end can be
accomplished by simply roofing them
up or blowing them under. Some
will say that when the stalks are
green they cannot be turned under.
With heavy plows this can be ac-
compIished. Running a twenty-inch
disk over the field, or rolling and
pressing the stalks down and then
cutting them up is practicable. More
over, the stalks can be turned under
by the pillow if q heavy chain is at
t2ched to the whiffletree and the COL
ter. Disk plows can be used to bury
the stalks successfully.
When the food of the weevil is
destroyed early in the season he goes
into winter quarters in a very weak
ened condition, and whereas thou
sands of them might survive if they
were well fed up when cold weather
came on, only few hundred may
be in position to come out i'll the
spring if they go into winter QUAR-
tiers in starving condition. More
over, the Weevils thus weakened do
not come out and begin their opera
tons so early in the spring, or GER
tainly with the same degree of vigor
that would follow were they better
nourished.
While any farmer may follow this
method and so in measure protect
his fields from early infestation in
the, spring, the community should
work together in undertaking to fight
the weevil by this means.
The Spring Attack
The second method of control which
should be followed up with the ut
most circumspection is as follows:
In a direct fight against the weevils
operations should be begun in the
early spring, just as the first weevils
are emerging from their winter quar-
ters. This may oCcure at any time
and usually happens before the
squares begin to form. 1t is certain
that as soon as the weevil gets out
Of his quarters he will make for the
nearest cotton field, and generally
that part of the cotton field nearest
where he hibernated. AS a rule this
will be next to a woodland, around
farm buildings, or along the edges
of thickets or where stumps, weeds
and other cover is abundant. The
first thing to do, therefore, is to
make a search in the vicinity of
these places just as soon as warm
weather arrives in the spring. If no
squares are on the plants the old
weevils will be found in the terminal
buds of the little plants. There will
not be many of them and they may
not be readily detected, but the de-
struction of a pair of weevils at this
lection of the field against the de-