The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1922-02-24
.SWEETENED PO|S0NS
NO REAL MERIT

tleIlSou COlleSe, 90. lI.--4i La
~so-called binders, stickers, and
spreaders have no material merit
in making poison spray stick to the
cotton plant; that no material ad-
vantage seems yet to have been Sc
cured by the use of sweetened poi
sons in carefully conducted expert
ments; and that calcium ~arsenate in
dust form after careful study Of
the conditions nd requirements for
poisoning is advisable-these sum
I'D the recommendations of the en-
tomologists, says Prof. A. F. Con-
radi, in a statement on the much
discussed subject Of sweetened poi
son for boil weevil control.
Little baby "Poison Sweet" was
born in Texas, says Prof. Conrad,
shortly after the weevil crossed the
Rio Grande in 1892. It could not
thrive there and had to wander
eastward with the weevil, because
only the residents in a newly in
tested territory would entertain it.
| South Carolina is entertaining it
now.
Numerous formulas and recipes
in making sweetened poisons for
boil weevil control are being recon-
mended and q 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
liquids and pastes. Catchy express
sions in connection with some of
these formulas include "sticker"
and "secret binder" which convey
the impression that these nysteri-
GUS discoveries will cause the ma
terial to stick to the plant and re-
main good until eaten by the wee
vii. Whether the poison is applied
as a spray or as a dust the rate of
| decomposition goes forward in the
same n and as a weevil pol
son is completed in about four days.
Binders and ~spreaders are in use
: by entomologists and serve a useful
purpose under certain conditions in
| binding tie spray ingredients and
| giving body to the spray, but they
have no material In making the
spray stick to the plant. The funda-
mental condition that makes the
spray or the powder stick to the
plant is fineness, and the finely
divided spray or dust properly ap-
piled has a most effective sticking
powder.
Demonstrations to show the
sickness of a substance by pouring
it from a s%prinkling pot have no
semblance whatever to a natural
rainfall where the drops travel
downwards hundreds of feet before
they strike the plant.
No material advantage has yet
been secured from the use OF
sweetened poison in carefully con-
Quoted experiments throughout the
last twenty-five years, except ap-
parently in one instance when ap'
piled to very young plants in hot
dry weather, which by itself would
have little significance. In this ex'
periment the weather was against
the weevil, and as no evidence has
been secured so far that the weevil
is attracted by any sweet, it may be
assumed that the weevll was at
tracted by the droplets of moisture
Some one says: John Brown
tried it and made bale to an
acre" Was it checked? How did he
know that he sweetened poison was
the determining factor in making
his crop? Bill Grimes tried it and
got nothing. John Brown also says
he treated his seed with sulphur
and made a crop. Now would you
believe this just because John
Brown said so? Sam Stokes says
the weevil lives in the roots OF
cookie bur. Now this is not 80, bu'
would you swallow it just because
Sam says 80?
Our recommendations are based
altogether on the results secured
from carefully conducted expert