New Iberia enterprise and independent observer. (New Iberia, La.) 1902-1944, 1921-02-05
HE BOIL fEEvIL
THREATNS J.

p 49, OA/H
THREATNS
a Washington, Ny 1.-THE
Jted States Dsartment sof
i riculture in arecent news
Il Illetin warns le people Of
A te cotton belt hat the boil
Il sleevil is aboI to spring
4 llrprise. At asst. the indi-
4tions are thait will. Hiber-
nation at varids points in the
cotton belt la, fall was high
ser tshan any fevious year for
was fxeportef favorable and
which RECORD are available
weeyil hib\eration this winter
is far abovee the usual average.
Climate conditions have
been unfavorable to the We
evil for the past two years, but
the past has proven his SIAM
ina and nerve and the number
of hiberlations has been
growing. This is shown by
number of studies made by
the Department of .Agricul-
,fure in Louisiana, North Caro-
lima, South Carolina and ueOr-
gia.
Farmers are warned that
the relative immunity from
the weevil that they have en-
joyed for the past two years
does not mean that similar
conditions are to exist in 1926.
Temperatures during the cur
rent winter and summer
weather will govern the raw
ages of the weevil this year,
and not his conduct during
the past two seasons.
Although winter weather
conditions are determined fac
tor in weevil survival, of
equal Importance is the num-
Der of pests that enter hiber-
nation in the autumn. The
Department of Agriculture's
lies disclose that the slight
<~-1age done by the weevils in
in 1925 is by no means an in
dication that there is a small
number of the insects in hiber-
nation at the present time.
The situation is, in fact, that at
certain places there are more
in Information than during pre-
vious years.
At Tallulah, La, for inst
ance, it .was discovered that
the number of living weevil
found per ton of Spanish moss
during the current winter
was $50. Records have been
kept at this place since 1915,
and the weevil hibernations
have been tabulated. In 1924
here were but Is weevil per
ton of Spanish moss, in 1923,
there were 900, in 1917 there
were 1877, in 1916 there were
1873, and in 1915 there was the
greatest number ON record,
737. But this year, although
considerably less than in 1915,
the Information at Tallulah is
going on at a greater rate
than in any of the other years
named.
Fond of Spanish Moss
Spanish moss is bne of the
favorite alternating places of
the weevil. The department
therefore uses it extensively in
its investigations to determine
the habits and characteristics
Apf the pest.
| The figures given show that
in what may be termed nor
nal years, from 100 to 200
weevils per ton go into hiber-
nation during the fall. And
this years number at Tallulah
is $780,. But at other points it
is even greater. The weevil
Information in northern Louis
lana is estimated at $50 per ton
of Spanish moss. In southern
Louisiana the average esti-
mated is the tremendously
high total of 1880, while in
North Carolina the average is
40. In South Carolina and in
Georgia the inves LEGATIONS dis
closed a much lighter average
At points where the counts
were made in South Carolina
it was found that 50 weevils
were alternating, while 80
were alternating in Georgia.
The boil weevil is gift to
the United States from her