Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1923-06-23
Destroy the First Boil weeviI Crop

on hand again. This Is the season
OF the year when he awakens from
his long sleep and begins to think
about taking up the duties and re
sponsibilities OF life once more. He is
voraciously hungry after hibornat
thought is to get to a cotton field
as quickly as, possible and begin
operations therein. II we can delay
this, we have taken a long step
toward encompassing his destTuc'
ton and saving our cotton field
from serious injury. If you do not
think this prec2I1ion Is worth while
you are not acquainted with his
Satanic majesty, the boil weeVil.
Nor do you understand anything
about how prolific is the creature
YOU have to fight to save your cot
ton crop. A pair Of healthy weevils,
If turned loose in the spring and
allowed to breed at will, may, by
the next autumn, be the prOgenltors
OF between 10000 900 and $4,000, 900
weevils. So. il you can destroy a
pair before they begin active opera
lions in the spring, you have rem
dered a real service to the cause.
The experience Of our workers
; here at, the Georgia State College OF
Agriculture in this fight has been
long and varied. They have gather
ed together a. good deal of data.
The suggestions they have to offer
surely are worthy of consideration
in an hour of crisis, such as that
nnfrnnfnd
Let us, put every energy and every
force at work in the fight against
this predacfous insect. Unless we
do this, the weeVil will again eat
up our cotton crop.
Last year some farmers destroyed
all or nearly all of, the weevils COM
ing into their fields from hiberna.
ton before they had punctured
many squares and destroyed all the
few. squares punctured by these
weevifs.
WeeVils coming out of Information
rarely live more than three weeks,
so these farmers had no weeVils from
about the. middle of June until late
in July or sonnet me in August, when
migrating weevils came in from
neighborfng fields. These men made
good crops of cotton without fighting
the weeviI except in May and the
first of June, except that some OF
them poisoned the first migrating
weeVils in July or August. The total
determination of all weeYilS coming
from Information and the destruc.
ton of all squares punctured by
them is possible in many cases and
is usually not very expensive. In
all cases where this total exterminA
ton of hibernated weevils and
squares punctured by them is pos.
sible, it should be done, for it is
the most satisfactory, most certain,
and least expensive control of the
Weevil where total determination is
actually accomplished 70 be
thoroughly effective, 1t must be ac-
conplished in all of any one isolated
field, whether it>is three acres or
more than a hundred.
The methods by which this has
been accomplished are: ~ poisoning
with calcium arsenate in the bud
just before any squares are large
enough to be punctured, and pick
ing all the first punctured squares
from the ground and from the stalks
for the first four or five weeks after
squaring begins. a. picking the
grown weevils from the top buds by
hand every few days until squares
are large enough to be- punctured,
and picking all the first punctured
squares for four or five weeks after
sQuaring begins.
The poisoning is usually done in
the least time and in the most salts
factory manner when dust gun
is used Any of the sizes and makes
that are used for busting later in
the season can be used for this
work, if they can be regulated to
use a small amount of dust and if
the discharge nozzles can be made to
direct the poison into the buds of
the plants.
This poisoning in the buds can,
however, be done with "a sack or
with q bucket or can having holes
punched in the bottom and having
a handle fastened to the side, so
that one can dust the plants with
out stopping. This bucket arrange
ment often works better if the
holes in the bottom are large and
a cheese cloth or piece of flour
sack is fastened loosely below the
bottom to sift the dust. The cloth
is a better sitter, but the false bot
tom formed by the bucket bottom
keeps the calcium arsenate from
packing on the cloth.
This poisoning in the bud can be
done with a mixture of syrup or
molasses, water, and calcium arse
mite, or with some of the patent
mixtures containing calcium arse
nate, if such is desired. No au-
thoritative test has shown them to
be more effective than the dust
even on small cotton, except pos
sibly for a short period of q very
few days when there may be. no
dew on this small cotton. These
may be nearly or quite as effective
as the dust for this early poison
ing, but they will probably seldom
or never be as effective as the dust
for cotton large enough to have
blooms and bolls
Some farmers this year will use
the Florida method of control.
which consists Of pulling off all
squares, blooms and young bA5s
after it Is thought that all wssvils
are out of Information, ard poi
soning the buds Immediately after
this picking has been done. For
many others, this will not be as
satisfactory as poisoning in the bud
before there are squares and then
picking only the punctured squares.
1t will be necessary for extermi-
nation to get all these first pune
tured squares, for the weeviIs that
would hatch from them might live
ninety days or longer and make
the job OF picking up squares an
endless one.
In the cases where the total ex.
termination of all hibelnated wee
wills and their progeny is accom-
plished, there may be no need for
any further fight on the weevil. In
some other cases. it will be worth
while to dust once or twice when
migration begins to give a little