The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1922-06-22
ABUNDANCE OF WEEVIL
CAUSES MODIFICATION OF
METHOD OF POISONING

BY L. X. Coad and G. A. Maloney
For the past few weeks we have
been AGcumulating records on the
emergence OF the boil weevil from
n5arlv all of the co'Ct0la STATES
;ul are finding universally, as we
IorecaS,ed some months ago, that
the number Of Over-Wlntered
WSevils is far greater Inan usual;
in fact, IN nj cry districts where
accurate coants lave been made
Is has been found that we have
IN The flel.t now as many weevils
as are ordinarily present a month
later when the first summer bred
brood has started to appear. With
anything like normal weather con-
ditions this is going to mean a
tremendoa. ~ rapid increase IN
the WeCvii damage. and this will
have all important bearing on the
program TO be followed bv chose
using calcium arsenate for tie
control OF the Weevll.
In The iirSt place is should be
remembeie4 that we l2commea1
starting poi .onin when from ten
to fifteen per cent Of the cotton
thei HEeVll * sSlleral ,lref
this condl,ion does not Arise I'M
til after the newly bred weevils
have started o emerge from the
squares. Tins year, however, we
have found many fields where
there are already sufficient
weevils present TO DESTROY practi-
callv all squares as fast as form
ed. In other words, such cotton
will never start BLOOMING unless
the Wd=vils are controlled, and
from the very outset so per cent
or more of the squares are
punctursd. Under such condition.
it is undoubtedly going TO be nee
eSsary to poison earlier than ever
before. Of course, there is no adj
vantage in poisoning the cotton
before the squares form, as the
weevils are continuing to emerge
from Information during this
period and furthermore they are
doing the crop no harm. However,
where such a heavy infestatiOn
occurs it will be advisable to
make the FIRST application just
as soon as the cotton starts
: 7uaring freely, or about the time
the plants average from A to 5
squares each. TIE regular poison
ing schedule should be started at |
that time and continued along
the lines of the usual recon-
mendations for controlling this
early infestation of weevils.
Another very important effect
of this heavy infestation will be |
felt later in the season. When the
Weeyils first emerge from hiber-
nation and reach the cotton field |
they move around very little as
long as they can find an ample |
supply of unpunctured squares
for their use, but just as soon
as the infestatlOn becomes Suf
ficiently heavy to puncture
practically all squares these
Weevils start to move in search |
of fresh pastures. In an ordinary |
season this means that YOU usual
~ have only the Weevils bred in |
your OWD cotton to contend with |
until some time from the latter
part of July to the last of August, |
on the locality. This |
yer, however, this movement of |
migi alton of weevils will probab-
" start several weeks earlier than |
usual. Consequently, it will not
only be necessary for you TO
start poisoning earlier to control
your own infestation, but you
should also expect that, before
you have had time to mature the
fruit which your plants have set
dur.i1g this period of protection
J GU viii begin to experience al
Of weevils from un
poisoned cotton. Of course, this
condition would not arise if every
one in a district was successfully
his cotton; but this will
not be the case this year; and
just as soon as all squares in the
crops are punctured
the migration to the poisoned
fields will commence. This means
that everv day a large crop of
new weevils will move into these
poisoned fields. and it is going
to take continuous, thorough |
to protect to maturity
the crop which has been allowed
to set by the earlier applications.
These two facts mean lust this: