Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1922-07-25
ABOUT THE WEEVlL
Weather Like This is Most Favorable
70 Cotton Pest.

Rainy, cloudy weather favors hatch
ing out of weevils, writes c. A. Whittle.
Dry. hot weather reduces the hatch.
hut hot dry weather in July, August
and September cannot be depended
upon TO keep the cotton out of danger
when the carly infestation is heavy.
Last wear oklahoma had hot, dry
weather during the latter half of the
growing period, and Oklahoma suffer-
ed very heavy losses from boil wee
wills The weevils were abundant in
spite of the, unfavorable weather, to
clean up the cotton.
The point is thai hot. dry weather
is not such an important control fac
tor except when the cotton is small.
AS the cotton .plants grow, the shade
they make reduces the possibilities
of the infested squares drying out
under the suns rays. sAts
In a portion of the. southeast the
rains are frequent and excessive. Cot
ton would do poorly even II there
were 10 weevils. These rains are
from thunder showers and are there
fore skipping some areas, as they
usually do, so that close to regions OF
worsterain damage can be found fields
doing splenddly because they have
escaped excessive rains.
South Carolina, especially, Is spot
ted by the vagaries Of thunder show
ers. with a tendency to more uniform
damage as one nears the coast.
The. important point for the farm
ers who are suffering from excessive
rains is that the boil weevil must be
fought the harder.
Do not let the mud, or water in
the rows or water on the stalks stand
you off from fighting the weevil.
You are a loser if you do. The in
sect enemy is then making it's hard
est, fight. Two weeks of almost daily
showers in late July or in August will
allow the boil weevil to ruin any cot
ton crop il the, weevils are numerous
and are not fought during that period.
Can calcium arsenate dust be used
effectively under such weather con-
ditions? ~ ;... ,r.
If calcium arsenate stays on the
cotton twenty -four hours it will get
in it's deadly work. Rains are not so
regular that twenty-four hour period
may not be found every four or five
days. Farmers are generally weather
wise enough to pick out dry twenty
four hour period. st. N
When the showers are numerous it
may not be possible to find a time
when the air is perfectly calm and
dew on the cotton The best Of the
situation must be made. If the air is
stirring then apply more calcium ar
senate dust. r....,s
Remember that it is not essential
that dew be on the cotton to get re-
suits from calcium arsenate. It. is 4
still atmosphere that is to be sought
rather than dew.
Dew and a still atmosphere, as ev-
cry farmer knows, usually go together
er. But still atmosphere during mid
day is desirable If putting calcium
arsenate on at that time will give
twenty four hour interval between
rains. .. r .n-.
Should a farmer be so unfortunate
as to have each Of his applications OF
calcium arsenate washed Off eXhausts
his supply and can get no more, we
advise, gathering squares carefully at
EIeast once a week. .-
While studying cotton conditions
and methods of fighting boil weevils
in South Carolina last week, the writ.
er found that quite a number Of
small farmers and some large farmers
were using poisoned molasses and be-
lieved they had obtained excellent
results. They had, however, not kill
ed all the weevils and were facing the
remainder of the season with some
doubt about the effect of poisoned
molasses on large cotton. The same
situation was faced by many cotton
LII III NcoI W iiO uSSu pOiSOiiSt
molasses last year. They did not find
that poisoned molasses were effective
on large cotton and where they made
no other fight, they suffered severely.
The users Of poisoned molasses
probably would now find it difficult to
obtain calcium arsenate and machines
for its applications, therefore they will
probably have to rely largely on pick
ing up squares.
What was considered an improve
mcnt on method of applying poisoned
sweets, was being employed at some
points in South Carolina. 1t consisted
of q mixture of water calcium arsenate
and molasses, carried in a barrel on