The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1923-02-06


The following Is continuation from
the last issue OF The News Of the
governments bulletin on the boil vice.
VII:
Information.
As has been pointed out, the boil
wecvil passes the winter in the adult
stage. At the time in the fall when
frosts occur immature stages may still
he found IN the squares or Oolls- II the
food supply Is sufficient many OF
these immature stages continue their
development at q very slow rate and
finally emerge as adults. Thus there
NAV be q somewhat continuous pro-
duction Of adults during the winter
Ordinarily. however, this s not the
case. since the frOsts that destroy the
cotton generally kill practically al Of
the immature stages OF the Wcevfl.
With the advent Of cool weather IN
the fall the adult boil weeyils IN cot
ton fields begin 10 seek protection
against the winter. They Ay from the
fields IN every direction, although their
movements are governed partially by
i =
into hedges, woods, corn fields, hay
stacks. farm buildings, or other places.
Specimens have been found IN such
situations. and also N considerable
numbers I'm Spanish moss growing
some distance above the ground on
trees. A number OF weeviis also OBJ
tain alternating quarters without ieay-
ing the cotton fields. These may
crawl into cracks IN the ground, TN
der grass, weeds and other trash, and
into the burrs from which the cotton
has been picked In some cases sew
eral thousand weeyils per acre have
been found alternating in such situz-
tons. Here, however, the mortality Is
greater than where the protection IS
better. In fact, Information in the
fields is not Of great Importance ex-
ceDt in the more southern LOCALITIES.
That the majority OF weeyils which nj
beruate successfully do not pass the
winter in the cotton fields has been
shown by many experimental obser-
vati0ns and is demonstrated every
wear IN the infested territory by the
appearance OF the first damage IN the
immediate vicinity Of woods and II
other places where conditions Tor pro
lection are favorable.
During the winter the weevils take
no food and remain practically dor
m1ant On especially warm days they
may move about 10 a certain extent.
During the very mild winter OF 1907
hibernating weevils were found NOV
ing about more or less throughout
the period from November TO March.
The number OF weevils that live
through the winter has been determin-
ed very accurately Tor different condi-
tions. 1t varies with the temperature
and with the region Heavily tir1bered
regions, especially where Spanish
moss occurs, show the smallest win
ter mortality. In Louisiana out OF
p. 900 weevils Z.62 per cent survived
the winter OF 1866. These wceviis
were placed under various conditions
that must have. approached those
which the species encounters natural
w. The winter referred 60 was prac-
ticzIIy Z normal one so far as temper
ature and precipitation were concern
ed. In extensive work IN Texas dur
ing the winter OF 1867 out Of 5000
weevils lis per cent survived. As in
the preceding case, these weey1is
were placed under diverse conditions
IN different cages. These conditions
ranged from the most favorable to the
least favorable; that is, from an
abundance Of protection TO practically
none. The survival obtained was I'M
doubtediy very close TO that occurring
under the diverse natural conditions
OF that winter. II must be emphasized
that the winter Of 1907 was abnor-
n1zily warm. The average survival IN
experiments performed in Texas and
Louisiana from 1906 to 1911 was 8 per
cent. which must represent about the
average survival occurring IN nature.
From 1914 TO 1920 a rather extern
sive series OF cage experiments has
been conducted by the department OF
agriculture at Tailulah, La, utilizing
from 10000 TO 10000 weeyiis each
year. These have been placed IN hlber-
nation under rather wide range OF
conditions, which probably represent
a fair average of those found by the
weevil in seeking Information quar-
tiers around the cotton field. The an
nuaI survival in these series has va
ried from 0.3 per cent to SO per cent
Emergence from Information de-
pends primarily upon temperature and
rainfall in the spring, although some
minor iaCLOIs are SOiASEiHCu. III A.N
southern portions Of the cotton belt
emergence usually begins from the
first to the middle of March, but lar
ther north it IS somewhat later than
this. Naturally, the individuals under
the heaviest protection are affected
latest by the temperature. The conse-
ouence is that emergence from hiber-
nation is prolonged. 1t has been known
to extend from the middle OF March
to the 18th OF June, and in even more
cases from the middle OF January to
about the first Of July. There IS usual
" q comparatively short period dur
ing which the emergence is most rap
ID but this may be broken up into