Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1920-01-02
BY Angus perterson

,Rhe boil weeYil destroyed 100000
Ha4es Of cotton in Georgia this year.
Taking 1925 as the average price
Tor a bale of cotton and the seed for
the year, the boil weeviI ate up $67,-
50a,0o0 in this state.
The amount of cotton destroyed is
A1tIHated from figures gathered by
q federal .eEop. bureau for Georgia.
the heels OF ne b10eau's stat
ea9 that Georgia s loss tota1a .2S
@ 60 to 100000 bales comes "a -
nouncement by the United States de-
5artnent of agriculture that it has
found a way to kill the boil weevil.
We are. ready 10 say absolutely
that our discovery will control the
boil weevil menace. Any farmer who
will follow our directions can reduce
his damage from the weevil to a
negligible point. He can grow about
as good cotton crop as he could be-
fore there was any weevil."
Dixon Merritt. of the information
bureau of the United States depart
I nfent of agriculture. makes that an
nouncement here-the first official
statement from the department. to
the effect that it has solved the boil
9sweevil problem.
a white. powder with the appear
ance of lime is the means by which
The department says that the south
can rid itself of the weevil.
This. powder is a mixture of cal
lium and arsenic, called calcium arse
nate. and iss a deadly poison to the
weevil but harmless to the plant,
Z when combined in the right proper
tons
Ten years. ago government experts
began experiments in the cotton fields
of Louisiana and Mississippi to find
a way to kill the weevil. They tried
everything, substances ranging from
lead poison to Paris green, but not
until 1915 did they hit on the lime
like powder-ca1ciu1n rsenate-which'
gave results.
Their discovery being in the ex-
perimentaI stage. they withheld of
ficial announcement until sure it
would accomplish what they hoped
Seyenty-fiye government experts
have been at work since then super
8 vising experiments in the Mississippi
4 river lands, each directing calcium
arsenate poisoning on 200 to 1000
acres of cotton land.
From the results obtained through
such wide use of the powdery poison
ricultufe announces that it has solv-
ed the boil weevil problem.
1.-TWO instances will show what
.lciaum arsenate has DONE" says
Dixon Merritt. who arrived in Allan
Ia from Washington on a trip
through the south and while here
made the announcement of the gov
ernment's discovery. In Madison
parish, Louisiana, our experts split
me field into three sections of equal
yea. The middle section was dust
with calcium arsenate; the two
f~sections were left untouched.
lie of the end sections that year
reraged As pounds of cotton to an
re, the other end section averaged
pounds to an acre. But the mid
le section-the part treated with
a1ciun arsenate = averaged SIG
bounds to an acre.
In the Mississippi Delta" continu-
ed Mr.. Merritt, IAN English syndi-
cate owns $4,000 acres of the finest
cotton land in the world. 1t is bet
ter than that in the Nile valley.
This land was infested by the boil
weevil, but the production was so
large, SO tremendous. that the grow
ers thought the weeyAz was doing
them no real damage.
@That land was yielding 1,4OO
pounds an acre-thinIk of y 1,40O
pounds. 1t is as I Said the Gnest
cotAe1 land in the w05rld.
uVa adEe.gaaS isfzed,' said the groW-
at TIDE request Of the az
theysa allowed us to dus
$ with calcium arsenate
the result?
hat had produced Lao
acre increased in yielc
bon weevil treatment t,
ds-an increase of LOO
1al to twice the total yiel'
rage cotton land.
as the effect of calcium
id in less degree, propor
almost, 1t will accom-
Cd on other infested land
these reservations:
arsenate must b
portions we specif!
e !. Column y