The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1922-07-19

1
of the molasses mixture applied for
the first time from May "a to June 10
and even later upob cotton which was
at the time badlytH Infested with wee
wills resulted in thd prompt and prac-
tically total destruction of the weevils.
! 1t is hardly reasonable to suppose
that the weevils chose the particular
date Of May "a to disappear from the
fields of Ex-Governor Manning, May go
from the fields OF Mr.. Goodson and
June II from our own fields (these be-
ing the dates upon which these three
parties made the first application of
|poison.}
1t seems to me no less foolhardy to
90 nothing to control the boil weevil
until squares have formed on the
plants and Of couree some of them
been punctured by ihe old weevils. 1t
Is perfectly feasible as stated by the
Clemson authority to kill these early
weevils by applications Of arsenical
poison Why is it not equally feasible
to keep on killing them for a period OF
so days when method which will cer-
tainly do this is offered at q cost of
about zoe per acre per application for
materials, or say $b per acre to COM
plete the job? The experience of many
in this section shows that it is per-
fectly feasible to do this very thing.
We are not going to get perfect boil
wpnvi1 frN1 A..
because in no section have all the
farmers poisoned their crops and pick
ed up squares, nor will we probably
get weevil control to the highest de-
gree in any season, even in sections
where the molasses poison is used in
time and frequently, unless the farm
ers are vigilant in finding the spots
where the few weevils who have prob |
ably escaped the poison are laying in
the squares
| firmly believe, however, that when
every farmer in the state poisons his |
cotton before squares are formed and |
continues this treatment often cough
to keep the poison'on the cotton until
the elast Of June and where me con-
vigilant in detecting and picking
up the few punctured squares that the
imprisoned weevil will lay,
we will have method Of control
which will protect the whole cotton
crop. until late in the season and allow
normal crops of early planted early
to mature.
In order to secure the universal
adoption Of an agricultural practice 1t !
is only necessary to convince all the
farmers that the practice is profitable
The use Of the Williamson plan of cul-
tivatilqg corn very quickly became
universal In this section because its
benefits were so manifest that even
the powerful opposition Of many gov
experts and agricultural ad-
isers could not stop its spread The
use OF fertilizers is universal in the
eastern part of the belt.
The general adoption of some meth
od of boil weevil control at once cheap,
simple and practical enough to come
within the means and appeal to the
sense Of every farmer should
be much easier than either the Will
hanson plan or the use Of fertilizer,
because every farmer has direct and
vital interest in preventing his neigh
bors from raising weevls which vii
destroy his own top crop and thus will
use his influence to see that his neigh
bors use control methods.
am in hearty concurrence with
Clemson college and the government
in their advice to plant early use
early varieties, use acid phosphate,
rapidly. pick up squares and
destroy the old stalks some time be-
fore frost. | must continue, howeer.
to advise the use of control method
which has carried up to July IS with
no damage to those crops
10 which it had been applied before
squares formed and which has carried
our own crops Originally badly in
fested) up to the same date with much
less than per cent infestation al
though the first application was not
made until many Of the first squares
had been punctured.
1t should be noted that in this sec
lion we have had only one period
(from June 6 to June 1S) which was
favorable for boil weevil control The
balance Of the growing season has
been showery with many heavy rains,
making control methods extremely diff