The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1922-08-11
WEEVIL MIGRATION
MEANS BIG DAMAGE
Starts About August the LIST When
Their Field Supply Runs Short.
(By C. A. WHITLEY

of new squares and more bolls, their
home field supply having run short.
That time is usually around Aug
ust l for the greater part of the cot
ton belt. 1t will be earlier if the wee
wills are abundant and the weather is
Favorable for their reproduction. 1t
will be later than August l if the
weevils are few or the weather I'M
Favorable for reproduction. Then, of
course, the time of migrating is like
ly to be earlier in the lower cotton
belt than in the upper.
When the migration period sets in
no farm is going to be free of wee
wills no matter how well the insect
has been fought. The number of
weevils that one will get at migrat-
ing time will depend largely upon
the fight that has been made by the
community. A few farmers who have
made no fight OF a very Ineffective
fight, have centers of i~nfestation in
their cotton fields great enough to
threaten all the cotton in the neigh
borhood. This is why we so strongly
urged in our last article that there
is a community cooperation to see
that a fight was made by every far
mer.
But what is to be done to meet
the migrating weevils?
Nothing has proven so good as a
coating of poison placed all over the
cotton plant. This coating can not be
thoroughly and most successfully
applied except in the form >of cal
cium arsenate dust put OF with spe-
cial machines. When the invading
weevil lights on the cotton and be-
gins foraging for water and food it
will get it's fatal dose Of arsenate be-
fore it has had an opportunity to do
much damage.
If a farmer has employed other
than poison methods, then when the
weevils come into the field they find
squares and 'bolls that they can at
back with perfect freedom and can
continue to attack them at will.
Take a farmer who has only been
gathering infested squares, he has
no protection from the invading wee,
wills. They will proceed to destroy
squares and bolls, and, of course, to
gather infested squares and bolls af-
ter they have been destroyed, is
somewhat like locking the stable af'
ter the horse has been stolen.
But picking infested squares and
bolls at migrating time will do some
good in helping to protect such cot,
ton as may be set and developed in
August and September.
If, however, the %neighbors are not
fighting the migrating weevils and
the weevils are quite numerous, a
farmer might as we'll give up ex-
pecting a top crop if he does not find
it possible to apply %arsenate dust.
All that the square picker can hope
for, if the community does not fight
the migrating weevil is just the cot
ton that the migrating weevils did
not take, the cotton that was in
bolls and big enough and hard
enough to escape damage.
How will those fare who are de-
pending upon poisoned sweets when
the migrating weevils come?
Generally speaking the bottle or
swab methods of applying poisoned
sweets are used. These methods, of
course, do not admit of completely
covering the cotton plants.
Will the weevils be attracted by
the poisoned sweets? The effective
ness Of the poisoned sweets control
at migrating time would obviously
depend largely upon whether or not
poisoned sweets attract the weevil.
Thorough tests have been made to
determine this point, beginning as
far back as fourteen years ago. The
reports of careful Investigators have
been that no sweets unless it is hon.
cy, attract the weevil. 1t has been
observed that when the weevil, in
search of moisture, turns to molasses