The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1921-06-15

thought most of the reports were
bunk, but when went to the infested
area. to live in 1915. 1 realized that
| no one ever has or can exaggerate
what weevils can do. For five years
| lived in Alabama and travelled
| splendid opportunity to observe the
effects of the weevil when he first ap-
peared III different counties and after
he had been there from one to five
years. Thinking that some of YOU
might be interested in such q nara
tive, | took the privilege of inviting
you to attend this meeting and hear
o. discussion Of what experience has
taught to be true about weevils.
hope you will interrupt me at any
time when you wish to ask question.
| will answer it if l can and tell YOU
so if | cannot
| First of all let us clear up a lot of
the misinformation which is so gen
eral regarding boil weevils, their his
| tory, habits, characteristics, possible
| damage, and the best method of mini
| MIXING this damage. No matter what
authority will tell you that what fol-
lows are the facts in the case as de-
tcrmincd after years of observation
and study by expert entomologist and
practical farmers.
The weevil came from Mexico. He
crossed into this country when the
Texas farmers converted their ranches
into cotton fields all the way to the
border. Had southern Texas never be-
gun to grow cotton within hun
dred miles of the Rio Grande, the
wcevils would have probably never
been able to establish themselves in
Texas from whence they have mi
grated year by year, on an average of
about six miles, believe.
A Cotton Specialist
The weevll is cotton specialist. He
does not eat any plant except cotton,
to an yeXtent, and he cannot repro
duce his kind except in the fruit of
cotton-cither the squares or Young
boll-usually the former except in wet
summers when even the grown bolls
are attacked. Wecvils subsiot by suck
ing the buds and tender squares of
cotton. They do not eat the plant,
therefore their damage is less notice
able until late in the year when the
absence of blooms and fruit is very
evident.
1t is not the habit of weevils to fly
from place to place or from field to
field at this time of year. Cotton is
what they arc looking for when they
come out of Information and when
they find it they no more fly over the
country looking for other cotton than
you would leave good turkey dinner
and maybe have to eat at asandwich
stand. Later in the year when they
nave become so numerous that both
food and breeding places are scarce,
many weevils migrate just as bees
swarm at certain seasons. They all
40 not leave AID those that do prob
ably have no particular direction to
go, but we can only trace them in the
newly infested areas. They are
thought to make these annual migra-
tions by short successive flights, total
ing as l have said an average of about
sixty miles per year.
How Weevils Hibernate
l heard the statement on the street
Saturday that Weevils have grand
children in three days, but this is not
true. The truth is that on the aver
age three weeks are required for q
generation of wcevils to develop from
egg to adult and therefore, they do not
have grandchildren under six or eight
weeks.
All the wccvils that we have in Lee
County now have survived the Win
ter because they have not yet had
squares long enough to raise any
young. The number of wccvils in the
spring depends upon whether or not
the winter was favorable or unfavor-
able for them to survive in hiberna-
ton. Last winter was very favorable
and we probably have a heavy infesta-
ton. On the average, l believe it is
claimed that 3 per cent of the
hibernated weevils survive but this