The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1922-07-12

ed and distributed off and on ever
since. The Trustees have always had
very intense interest in the boil
weevil situation and wanted the lat
est view held by the college experts.
Despite the fact that both the gov
ernment and the college have been
sending out information through the
press, county agents, specialists, bull
letins and circulars almost even day
for several months, the statements
made by the experts to the Board of
Trustees last Tuesday are of much
public interest. In substance these
college experts made the following
statements:
We believe that the value of early
poisoning is greatly exaggerated.
Such IS is the testimony by the best
experimentors in Alabama, Louisiana,
Mississippi, Texas, and Oklahoma,
which states have been longest infest-
ed with the weevil Reports are now
belhg received from farmers from all
sections of the state to the effect
that the weevil has Disappeared from
many of their fields Some of these
ilelds have been poisoned with calcium
arsenate dust, some with swcctened
poison, and others not poisoned at all.
This emphasizes our oft repeated
statements that early poisoning is
not material factor in boil wecvil
| control.
The early wccvils are but the Skin
m'shers of the hordes of ovcr-wintcred
weevlls that continue to come from
winter quarters from March to July.
They keep coming out even after the
squares have begun to form. Most of
these old wccvils die natural death
before square formation begins.
Therefore, little is gained and often
much lost through neglect of other
farm operations on account of efforts
to destroy these early wcevils. These
early wccvils can be killed by applica-
tlons Of any kind Of arsenical poison,
whether in liquid or dust form. fhis
|
1902
The weevils want squares to feed
on and lay eggs in. There being no
squares early in the season, they con-
fine themselves to the buds of the
young cotton plant and are practically
surface feeders, something like the
potato beetle or the cabbage worm,
only less so. Little injury is done to
the cotton plant from this feeding on
| the bud
If all the ovcr-wintcrcd wecvils
would come out at the same time, as
chickens come off the roost in the
morning, then we could no doubt de-
stroy them with profit by early pois-
onng. But when we kill hundreds of
wccvils with one kind of poison or
another in early spring, thousands are
still in their winter quarters ready to
come out later. BY no manner of
poisoning or other control measures
yet discovered can we kill all the
wccvils that arc out, and the surviv-
ors, together with those coming out
after the squares are formed, discon-
tnuc fcedin gon the cotton buds and
begin to puncturc and eat the inside
of the squares and lay their eggs
there. From this time on the only
effective poisoning method known is
through the use of calcium arscnate
properly applied in dust form.
General Control Methods Again Used
The farmer must remember that it
is at this point that the battle for the
crop really begins. 1t is now that
the following control methods repeat
cdly published, should be diligently
and thoroughly followed.
I. AS the bulk of the cotton crop
in South Carolina is made by share
croppcrs, the women and children
should be used to pick squares. This
should be SO supervised that, it is done
with great thoroughncss, otherwise
it has no value whatever. Begin pick
ing the squares as soon as any pune
| turcd squares fall, and pick every in
tested square on the ground and on
the plants every five days.
2. Practice frequent shallow cult
vation in order to prevent grass and
weeds and to keep the plant in a
healthy and vigorous condition. This
is important because it prolongs the
fruiting period and helps to prevent
ShcUlinp Tho holI ,yopvil &c pot in