Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1920-07-17
How to Control the Boil Weevil
By Busting With Calcium Arsenate

kill or injure the plants. Mixtures
of all kinds are condemned Calcium
arSenate may be kept as long as four
years if it is stored in a dry place.
There is always the possibility of
poisoning both men and horses work
| ing in calcium arSenate dust. Though
no serious injury has ever been re-
| ported, the specialists urge the TAX
ing of all reasonable precautions.
Personal cleanliness is the most i'm
quired to battle as soon as they have
completed the busting work, and
under no circumstances should they
| be permitted to eat or drink without
washing their hands and faces with
soar SOAP and an WA water r. Horses and mules
should be muzzled to prevent the
possibility Of poisoning by eating
grass and weeds along the rows.
Generally speaking, at least five
POUNDS OF calcium arsenate per acre
should be used
The best time to dust is when the
humidity is high, the air calm and
| the plants moist with dew. 1t is
necessary that every portion of the
cotton plant be covered by the fine
cannot be done when the wind is
high or the plants dry. 1t is usual
ly necessary, therefore, to do nearly
all OF the busting work at night.
early IN the morning or late in the
evening.
Three Applications Usually Sufficient
Inc nrst application should be
maze when the weevil injury reaches
le to 10 per cent of the bolls, and
the effort should be to hold it below
~ per cent. The poison reaches and
Kills only the adult weevils and has
no effect whatever on the immature
stages developing in the bolls and
squares. Three applications are usu-
ally sufficient to effect the desired
measure of control. They should be
should not be attempted except I'M
der conditions that will justify a
sufficient machinery outlay to go over
all the cotton poisoned at about four
day intervals. 1t is advisable to re-
peat an application Immediately if
drenching rain falls within twenty
four hours after treatment.
1t is sometimes advisable to poison
heavily infested portions of the field
earlier in the spring. The heaviest In
festatIon is usually near timber or
other Information quarters, and early
poisoning of few acres may greatly
reduce. the infestation of the entire
Held and delay considerably the ne
cessity for general poisoning.
WeeVll poisoning, the specialists
say, is plantation and not an in
dividual field proposition. 1t is un-
his crop. Much better results are OBJ
tanned if the plantation management
undertakes all poisoning operations.
Three types Of satisfactory dust
ing machines have been developed
the hand gun, the wheel traction ma
chine and the engine-poWer machine.
A hand gun should not be expected
to cover more than fifteen acres of
cotton, and it is safer to figure on
one gun for every two acres. Even
on this basis, hand guns should not
be relied upon when there is a con-
siderable acreage of cotton. The
hand gun is of great value for early
season work on spots of high infesta-
ton and for use in conjunction with
power machinery for treating spots
that cannot be reached it'll the pow
er machine. The medium or large
guns to supplement his power ma
Cart Buster Covers rs Acres
A Wheel-traction or cart buster
can be made to take care of about
seventy-five acres. It's operation re-
quireS the work of man and two
mules. 1t is simpler in construction
and easier to handle than the engine
power machines. This type was de-
veloped by the department of agricul-
ture to meet the need for machine
between the hand gun and the engine
power custer.
An engine-power buster, theoretic-
ally, will take care of about $50 to
200 acres of cotton, but it is cumber-
some and difficult to handle success
fully. A machine requires two or
more mules and two men.
The department specialists are
working now toward the development
of a buster, that can be attached to
a saddle and operated from mule
back or a single wheel buster to be
run between the rows and drawn by
one mule.
AS most of the busting is done at
night, artificial light is necessary.
The only lighting system that has
given satisfaction is special model
of acetylene light using compressed
carbide cake for fuel. 1t is COM
pactly constructed and the cart is
comparatively low.
The cost Of poisoning operations
for the season may be expected to
run from 81 to $40 an acre. Gains
in seed cotton as the result of poison
ing properly done will run from zoo
to 1000 pounds.
The first question to be decided
by anyone contemplating poisoning,
the specialists say, is whether or not
his conditions are such as to enable
the operation to be profitable. The
soil is sometimes so poor that, even
If complete normal yield were Sc
cured, the crop would not pay the
cost of poisoning. Regardless of
conditions, it is ordinarily best for
a farmer to undertake poisoning at
first only portion of his cotton, Sc
lecting the most fertile soil when
is subject to the heaviest weevil in
jury. A very accurate check plat
should be conducted. Without this,
the matter of gain or loss is likely to
be problematical. Several fairly uni
form cuts should be selected, subject
to about the average degree of Wee
vii infestation, and only one-ha!t OF
of this kind will soon make clear the
conditions under which the grower