Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1922-02-22
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!. SNVEETENED POIsONS. =.
y CaAe efully Conducted Expert.
5 ments Show No Real
~. Merit.
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vantage seems yet to have been se-
cured by the use of sweetened pois-
ons in carefully conducted expert
nsents, and that calcium arsenate in
dust form, after careful study OF the
condi tons and requirements for
poisoning is advisable-these sum
up the recommendations Of the en-
tomo1ogdsts, says Prof. A. F. Con-
radf, in statement on the much dis
cussed subject OF sweetened potsons
Tor boil weevl control.
little baby 'Poison Sweet" was
born in Texas, says Prof. Cbnradi,
shortly after the weevil crossed the
Rio Grande in 1892. 1t could not
thrive there and had to wander east
ward with lthe weevil, because only
the residents In newly infested
territory would entertain It. South
Carolina Is entertaining 1t now.
Numerous formulas and recipes
for making sweetened poisons for
bf'l weevil control are being recon-
memded, and number of CONNER
| cial brands 'of sweetened and LIQUID
poisons are appearing on the mar
ket. Equally numerous devices are
put forward for applying these liq-
uids and pastes. Catchy expressions
in connection with some of these for
inulas include 'stfcker" and "secret
j,i 1or Sxrl,i i,h
sion that these mysterious discov-
cries will cause the material to stick
ito the plant and remain good until
eaten by the weewils. Whether the
poisln is applied as a spray or as
dust the rate of decomposition goes
forward in the same manner, and as
q "weevil poison Its decomposition is
completed in about four days.
Binders and spreaders are in use
by entomblogidts and serve useful
purpose under certain conditions in
ding the spray ingredients and
giving body to the spray, but they
have no material merit in making
THE spray stick TO the plant. The
fundam entail condition tha. makes
the spray or powder stick to the
plant Is ffneness, and the finely d.
vdded spray or dust properly applied
has most effective Sucking power.
Demonstrations to show. the stick
mess Of substance by pouring it
from sprinkling pot havo no SEM
bQance whatever to natural rain
fan, where the drops travel hun
dreds Of feet before they strike the
plant.
Only Carefully Conducted Tests
Worthy Of Attention.
No material advantage has yet
been secured from the use of sweet
ened poison in carefully conducted
experiments throughout the last 30
years, except apparently in zone in
stance. when applied ITO very young
plants In hot, dry weather, which by |
itself would have little Significance.
In this experiment the weather was |
against the weevil, and as no evil !
dence has been secured so far that
the weevil is ATTRACTED by any sweet,
1t may DE assumed that the weevil
we4s sttra otei by the droplets OF
moisture.
Some one says: "Jchn Brown
tried IT and made bale to the
acre" Was It checked? How did he
Know THAT the sweetened poison was
the determining factor in making
his crop? Bill Grimes tried It and
got nothing John Brown also says
THAT he treated his seed with sgl-
phur and made crop. Now, would
you believe this just because John
Brown said so? Sam Stokes says
the .weevll lives in the roots Of tho
cookie bur. Now, this is not go, but
would you swallow 1T just because
Sam says so?
Our recommendations are based
altogether on the results secured
from carefully conducted expert
ment ts, regardless Of who made the
experiments, provided it was a quail
flied eNper1menter, who made pro-
visions for determining. by checks,
the value of the various factors that
entered into the problem.
A Careful Study Of tho Situa.
tion Advised.
In our recent Office letter, "Boll
Weevil Poisoning in 1922" we set
forth, as accurately as we could, the
conditions under which poisoning