Fitzgerald leader enterprise and press. (Fitzgerald, Ben Hill County, Ga.) 1921-1964, 1924-09-11
KILL 1925 BOIL
WEEVILS NOW
By FRANK c. WARD
Cotton Specialist, Georgia State Col
lege of Agriculture

The boil weevil is just as much a
potential menace to future cotton crops
in Georgia as it was to any of those in
the past Because boil weevils did so
much less damage in Georgia in 1924
than for several years past many peo-
pie have the mistaken idea that they
have migrated to other states and left
Georgia uninfested. These people and
Others seem also to think that the
weevil may have found our climate to
differ from that of Mexico in way
that makes them less vigorous and
less able to damage our crop Or that
parasites OF the weevil may have found
our climate Sc much more favorable
to Themselves than to the boil weevil
as 20 make them a permanent obsta-
Gle to boil weevil damage in Georgia.
None of these ideas have any foun-
dation in fact Having the same wealth
err conditions in 1925, or any future
year, that we had in 1922 or in 1923
and with no more intelligent or vigor-
GUS fight on the weevil than in those
years we may have in any future year
as much weevil damage as in 1922 and
1928 Any intelligent and observant
cotton farmer in the states west of us
or in South Georgia who has had boil
weevil five years or more knows that
we have less damage from weevils in
seasons following dry weather in late
fall, in seasons following winters hav-
ing exceedingly low temperature and
in seasons having long dry spells dur
ing the fruiting season. Any one OF
these favorable weather conditions has
noticeable effect on the weevil dam
age and most of Georgia has had for
the 1924 season a combination of all
three Of these so that weevil damage
has been very much less than normal
But it is not often that we have the
combination of these three favorable
conditions or any two of them and it
is possible in any year not to have
even one of them. In any year that
we do not have these favorable wealth
er conditions there will be great loss
from boil weevils unless we fight them
with eyerv means at our command.
There are boil weevils in every cotton
growing community and in nearly
eyerv cotton field in the State OF
Georgia right now and they will eat
I'D our 1925 cotton crop unless we
have another year of very unusually
favorable weather or unless we fight
them intelligently and persistently.
We can not control weather condl-
tons but if we kill all our green cot
ton stalks three weeks or more before
frost this fall we can have the same
beneficial effect on the weevil damage
to the 1925 crop that the dry weather
of last fail and the cold in January
had on the 1924 crop. Boil weevils do
not feed on anything except squares,
bolts, blooms or tender leaves OF
green growing cotton and in warm
weather they can not live more than
two or three weeks without food. Ii
we kill all our growing stalks three
weeks before frost in 1924 we kill all
our 1925 weevi1s without having to
depend upon the uncertainty of having
dry weather this fall and extreme cold
this winter.
The dry fail of 1928 covered all fields
except the very low wet spots in ev-
erv community and the cold in jan
uarv covered all fields. If the early
destruction of stalks is to be as bene-
fetal as last seasons weather condi-
ton it must apply to all the fields IN
community. Any farmer can reduce
his next years weevil infestation by
|k;I1;nk all his own stalks but if he is
to have no weevils at all his neighbors
stalks must also be destroyed. One OF
the most profitable cooperative pro-
;ects that can be initiated in any cot
ton growing community is that OF the
Icomolete destruction of all green cot
ton stalks three weeks before frost
The stalks can be killed either by cut
ting, by grazing with livestock, by
turning them under deeply with plow
or by ripping them out of the ground
with a plow Cutting is not usually as
satisfactory as the other methods
Grazing with livestock is dangerous
if the cotton has been poisoned late
and little or no rain has fallen to wash
the poisn off. Flowing the stalks und-
err is the best method of destruction If
they are completely buried, but it is
sometimes impossible to get all the
fields plowed three weeks before frost
Ripping the stalks up is much faster
than blowing them under and is the
method of stalk destruction most fire.
quently practiced.
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