The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1921-06-18
Do Not Give up to Boil Weevil.
augusta Chronicle).


ed with boil weevils. by c. A. Whit
tie. an agricultural expert Of the
southern soil improvement commit
tee. who has been studying the a3ri
cultural conditions in the Augusta
territory. and who has just come
from Waynesboro. where he address
ed the agricultural society of Burke
icounty.
Speaking Of the boil weevil in the
Augusta territory, Mr. Whittle says:
The farmers of this region seem
| to be afflicted with a bad case Of boil
weevil blues. Here and there are in
stances Of farmers giving u2 the fight
because the boil weevil has appeared
in greater numbers than usual on the
young cotton plants.
My advice is: Don't give up-iust
fight the harder.
Things may not be as bad as the
farmer thinks. The fact is. the situ-
! alton is fict as bad as the farmers of
this region seem to regard it. 1t is ad-
nitted that the past winter and the
spring have been favorable to the boil
weevil but there is always a chance
that the weather Will not continue to
favor the weevil-and the farmer
does not want to miss any chance.
early infestation Of weevils has
often been followed by climatic
checks that have given the cotton
grower the upper hand before the pc
riod Of setting the crop has ended.
But don't count on the weather
alone Fight the weevil by any
method that will kill him.
This year as at no previous time
during weevil infestation in this ter
ritory labor is cheap. For that rea-
son killing weevils is more econom-
ical practice than it has been.
I'm view Of the great number of
weevils it would seem appalling and
impractical to pick them. 1t certain
ly would be if anything like five cents
apiece were paid for picking weevlls,
But there are some method more
economical for destroying the weevils
than picking them by hand even
though hand picking could be done
more cheaply now than heretofore. 1t
is a well-known fact that drag
ging sack or strap attached to the
plow will knock many weevils off OF
the stalk and into the hot sand. Many
Of the older and less active weevils
Will die in the hot sand when thus
dislodged from the stalk.
''If when the wee.il is dislodged
from the stalk it is knocked into
pan of kerosene. there is afforded
assurance that those weevils will no
longer do any damage.
But it is only the young stalk that
should be agitated When the stalks
get up II or more inches high the
agitators should be discarded. They
hurt the cotton plant too much.
I'm the region Of Augusta there
seems to be considerable interest in
sprinkling the small plants with cal
cium arsenate. Doubtless some Wee
Wills will be killed in this way. but
mere sprinkging this material from
bag. will not place it all over the
1,larit-the underside as. we'll as the
top side of leaves-so as to poison
all of the drinking water Of the Wee
vi!-the dew.
In certain sections molasses and
calcium arsenate are applied as
the idea being that the wee
vii has sweet tooth and in eating
the molasses will get a dose Of pois-
on. However that may be. it IS con-
ceivable that thirsty weevIl may
drink anything when there has been
several dewless nights in success. He
may tackle the poisoned molasses and
then become good boil weevil-a
dead one.
1T is surprising how unanimous
the farmers of this region are in op-
position TO applying calcium arsenate
with spraying machines. Something
has certainly gone wrong. no such
failures have accompanied the use OF
calcium arsenate in Louisiana and
A thorough investigation
should be inaugurated and if mistakes
have been made that can be obvlated
in the future, the farmers should
know about them.
There are dangers. OF course. OF
mistakes being made with the intro
conceivable how mistakes in the use
of calcium arzenate could easily be
made
But it IS apparent that cotton
farmers are not in position to spend
much money on further experiment.
ing with spraying Of calcium arse
nate. 1t is rather expensive.
up to a certain point in the
growth Of the cotton plant. the pick
ing of fallen squares will help hold
the boil weevil in check. Each fall
en- square contains an immature boil
weevil. Destroy the square and po-
tential subsequent generations are
killed
But when all of the squares are
punctured as fast as they form. then
is the time to stop the fight. AL
the cotton that can be made has then
been set.
eff an aDpIiCatiOp of njtrOCenOuS