The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1923-02-27
are actually injurious to it.
Trap Rows.

are actually injurious 10 II.
Trap Rows.
quently been advanced Practical ex-
perience, however has shown that the
only possibility of success in such
procedure lies in the use Of entire
fields adjoining Information quarters,
the fields to be poisoned later. The
use of only few rows as trap crop
| has been found to be absolutely val
ueless.
Attraction to Lights.
Manv insects more or less resem-
bling the boil weevil are attracted to
| lights. Many attempts have been made
to destroy the cotton pest by taxing
advantage of this supposed habit. The
boil weevil, however, is not attracted
to lights. Numerous tests have been
made in which many thousands OF 9TH
err insects were collected around
strong lights in cotton fields, but not
single boil weevil was found in
spite of the fact that there were null
titudes of these pests in the telds sur
rounding the lights.
Chemical Treatment of Seed.
Any money expended by the farm
ers in attempting to destroy the boil
weevil by soaking the planting seed in
chemicals in the hope of making the
plants that are to grow from. them
distasteful or poisonous to the insects
would be entirely wasted. The same
remark applies to the various propos.-.
| ed treatments of the plants or SOIL
with chemicals which are supposed to
be taken up by the plants to the detrl-
ment of the weevils feeding upon
them.
Topping of Plants.
The topping of plants is sometimes
recommended for fields infested with
boil weevils. This practice generally
iresults in more harm than good, since
| it removes a portion of the plants up
on which the weevil is most depend
ent for food during the latter part OF
the season, and furthermore practical
NV always produces an exceedingly
dense foliage growth which greatly
reduces the sun control of the weevll
stages and promotes such dangerous
diseases as boil rot.
Sweetened Poisons.
Many attempts have been made to
make poisoned substances attractive to
the weevils by introducing sweets and
other ingredients. Some known sweets,
such as honey, have a slight attrac-
ton for the weevil, but not enough to
assist in practical control. Numerous
tests of such sweetened mixtures have
been made and it has always been
found that, though they may have a
slight value, results are far inferior to
those which can be obtained by ap-
plvinp drv calcium arsenate under the
same conditions.
Contact Poisons.
Poisons designed to kill the boil
weevil by suffocating them have been
proposed They cannot. of course, be
effective against the immature Weevi!S
| within the cotton fruit. Normally, al
so, the adult weevils are found inside
the bracts of squares, where they can
not be reached by sprays. Numerous
! chemicals have been found which, II
placed directly on the weevil, Will
will cause immediate death, but this
does not mean that these chemicals
! are of the slightest value when ap-
piled in the field. In the first place,
they are nearly always exceedingly IN
furious to the cotton plant, and, FUR
| thermore, when applied to the plant
unQer nelQ COuulllOllS, w HOl COAiAS
| in contact with the weevils sufficient
ly to kill any appreciably number. In
spite of the numerous chemicals test
| ed not a single contact poison has
been found to have any practical value
in the field use against the weevil.
Repellents.,
| In the same way it has been claim
ed that numerous chemicals, fumi
giants, ETC., have a repellent value
against the boil weevil. Almost ev-
cry conceivable compound has been
tested for this action and not single
one has been found which had the
slightest repellent action against the
weevil.
Other Proposed Remedies.
Many other remedies have been
suggested for the weevil. Literally
! hundreds of these have been carefully
| investigated, and it has been found
that the claims of their advocates were
based on faulty observations or care
less experiments. 1t is true that many
of them when placed directly on the
weevil will cause immediate death, but
they are still found valueless when
used in the field. The claims made at
different times of the repellent power
of tobacco, castor bean plants and
pepper plants against the boil weevil
| have no foundation whatever. In tact,
none of these plants has the least Ell
feet in keeping weevils away IRON
cotton.