The Washington times., 1923-02-06
boil WEEV|L IS
TERROR To
SOUTH
Cotton Industry Threatened
by Growing Ravages of De-
structive Insect.
By MERRYLE STANLEY
RUkEYSER.

copyrighted, 1928. by Star Company
and Distributed by Cosmopolitan
News Service.)
NEW YORK, Feb. 5.-The solid
South is arrayed in battle formation
against the boil weevil, a larvae
of Mexican origin which interferes
with the efforts of human beings
to produce cotton.
If the present voracious appetite
of the species keeps up the boil
weevil in the next two decades will
eat enough to pay the entire sum
of Preparations asked of Germany.
In the last two seasons this ma
rauder, whose depredations are be-
coming increasingly bold, destroyed
values equivalent to 5 per cent
of the worth of all of America
railroads. If all the allied Euro
pean nations began to pay in full
the interest owed to the United
States Treasury against war loans,
the annual flow of funds to this
country for the purpose would off
set the losses resulting from boil
weevil activities in the cotton fields
in the South during the last season.
South of the Mason and Dixon
line there is one subject on which
~
individual who invents a device for
effectively controlling the boil wee
vii will be the man of the hour.
A Republican who conquers the de-
stroyer of cotton crops would I'M
questionably get elected to high
Office in States that have been
Democratic since the reconstruction
period following the civil war.
Remedies Give Promise.
In the cotton belt the Invest, most
interesting and most commonly dis
cussed topic is the boil, weevil, and
as center of attention the bug is
heightening its position. Several
cbunter attacks have been devised
recently and give promise Of genuine
results. But the problem Of saving
cotton for men instead of relinquish-
ing it to bugs is still an open one,
challenging the ingenuity of all who
depend upon cotton.
Spectators in the southern staple
at the New York cotton exchange
are interested in the boil weevil as
factor in keeping the crop small, for
when. the crop is short the tendency,
other, things being equal, is for
prices to rise. Twenty-eight cent
cotton under present conditions,
with European buying power stunt
ed, is a direct result, of the. effects
of the boil weevi1 in curtailing the
supply of the fabric.
Unless the unecononic insect IS
the dominance OF the
United States as a cotton producing
will be threatened. A
like Australia which has al
most as much land suitable for the
Of cotton, may edge out the
South. AS a result of the menace,
the average grower is today produc-
ing one bale where he used to turn
out two and sometimes three. One
indirect beneficial result of the
trouble is that the southern farmer
now has an incentive to diversity
mis- crop, adding the raising Of food
stuffs to his former exclusive pre-
with cotton.
WeeviI Is Prolific.
Thirty-two adult boil weevils of
average size placed side by side,
could be laid within the boundary
of one square inch. Its snout,
which is it's instrument OF destruc-
ton. is about one-third the length
Of the body Scientists believe that
which is it's host except during the
period &C Information. It has been
estimated that a single couple of
beginning in June, could
have 1875, 900 descendants by No
vember.
Among the most effective of the
methods Of control devised is the
system developed by tho Depart
ment of Agriculture which advises
the use Of calcium ar3 snat.s III
Of lime and arsenic),
which kills the weevil. Only a
limited number of producers Of
cotton have the intellectual and fl
nancial resources to apply the full
program which, in a limited way,
is reported to be bringing results.
The main barrier to the conquest
Of the weevil at present seems to be
an adequate supply of calcium ar
senate at a sufficiently low price.
Experts declare that it will not
pay to treat land which yields less
than half bale to the acre $3.50
pounds), ara, as the average yield
is well below $50 pounds, that
remedy, under existing conditions,
is not economical.
The weevil destruction reached a
climax in the crop before the last,
when it destroyed 6,277,000 bales,
compared with 714,000 in 1914.
The damage in the crop of the
season just closing has been esti-
mated at 100000 bales, making
the money damage in the two sea-
sons nearly $1,000, 900, 900. The pest
was first observed as a genuine
menace in Texas in 1894. Fifteen
years earlier it was already no
ticed but little attention was paid
70