Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1922-07-19
coKER COMES OUT IN DEFENSE
OF His Theory and Methods in tho
Matter Of Boil Weevil Poisoning.

daily and weekly papers this week an
article from Clemson College pur-
porting to give advice as to- the lat
est and most approved methods Of
handling the boil weevil.
am sorry to take issue with tho
weevil experts Of the college on this
matter, but feel compelled to do so,
as my own experiments and those Of
many Of the best farmers in the State
lead me to differ from them in i'm
portant particulars. Clemson College
is supported principally by the farm
ers Of South Carolina, and 1 submit
that where there Is important evil
dence available from many of the
best and most reliable farmers in
the State, it should be given at least
equal weight with that Of the eek
perimenters in Alabama, Louisiana,
Mississippi, Texas and Oklahoma.
The boil weeyil has been in South
Carolina for several years, during
most Of which time the government
and college experts have advocated
a method of weevil control which
was expensive, which required much
Judgment in its application, and
which involved night work. Besides
In practice last year the government
method proved to be dangerous in
that some crops were severely dam
aged by plant lice after two or three
applications Of the calcium arsenate
in dust form.
l have abundant, evidence that the
early poisoning Of the weevils by the
molasses-calcium arsenate method
Is a success, and is so cheap and
simple that it can be put into uni
versal practice. think it a fair de-
duction from the results obtained
that, when put into universal prac>
tice, it will greatly delay the rapid
increase Of weevils and allow the
whole crop to fruit for some time
longer than when early control meth
DDS are not applied.
The experience Of Mr.. McDufrle,
farm manager for Ex-Governor RI.
Manning, on his Meredith place Is
sufficient OH this subject, although
1t is confirmed by practically every
ether farmer who used the molasses
treatment in time. Mr.. McDuflie IAoi-
soned his worst infested field Of ten I
acres on or about May "a, at which
time there were no squares upon the
cotton. Up to that time he had pick
ed weevils from this field frequently,
and upon the day of poisoning was
getting at the rate of about 200 vice.
wills per acre. Mr.. McDuflie poisoned
this field several times between May
"a and June 27, on which day he
told me that he had frequently and
carefully examined this field during
that interval (May "a to June 27)
and had sent hands into it TO search
for weevils; also that Ex-Governor
Manning had been with him on at
least one occasion searching for wee
wills, and that he had been unable to
find single live weevil in this field
during that period; that he had been
carefully over The field during the
past few days and had found but two
small spots in which any squares
were being punctured. (These, of
course, he had carefully picked up
The cotton referred to was planted
IN March and was carried to the end
of the period Of weevil emergence
with practically no infestation or
damage. About one week later Mr..
McDufile told me that he had just
plowed over 65-acre field and had
offered his plow hands five cents for
each punctured square. They had
turned In about 100 squares, or ~
squares per acre.
I could quote w. A. and George
stuckey, of Lee county; J. w. Good
son and r. P. Gillespie, Of Harts-
Vile; A. II. Rogers, Of Society Hill,
besides my own force Of experiment.
ers, and a host Of other farmers In
this section, to the effect that applt-
cations Of the molasses mixture ap-
Piled for the first time from May "a
on up to June 12 and even later upon
cotton which was at the time badly
infested with weevils resulted in tho
prompt and practically total destruc-
tion Of the weevils.
1t IS hardly reasonable to suppose
that the weevils chose the particular
date Of May "a to disannear from