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OW TO COMBAT COTTON PEST. ( Growing the Staple Under Weevil Conditions. (Written for The County Record by Mr C W Faker, County Demonstration Agent). In the year 1$92 the boll weevil ' crossed the Rio Grande river near | Brownsville. Texas. Previous to this' time, not much \\::s known about this insect, It is not known whether it flew across or was carried in seed cotton that was ginned at Brownsville. Since this time, however the boll weevil has extended its range annually from 40 to 70 miles until -? now it has covered almost the entire ! cotton oeu. In combatting any insect it is ah- j solutely necessary to know the life history of the insect. We should know the food plants, whether it gets its food by biting or sucking, what time the greatest damage is done, what stage of the insect's life does it do this injury, and in fact all the nsect's habits. For the insects that bite we can, in many cases, use poison, but if the insect sucks the juices of the plant, we have to resort to sprays or powder that have an offensive odor or that has a burning effect. It is to this first class of insects that the boll weevil belongs; he gets his food by chewing. On account of this fact, it is possible to poison some of the adulfs or grown weevils with powdered arsenate of lead with a powder gun at the beginning of the growing season. The results from this methojd has not been very good, owing to the cost, but when the weevils come in large numbers it is quite a paying proposition. While the control of the boll weevil does depend somewhat on community work, the work of the individual farmer will not reach much further than his own farm unless his neighbor makes no effort at all to control the number of grown # weevils that pass over the winter. This fact will be taken up later, but I ;ust mention it to show that the wurK luwarua vuunui wm ou\_cessful even if every farmer in the neighborhood docs not make efforts along this line. There are seven features in the life-history of the boll weevil that arecf vital importance: (1). The boll weevil has no food plant but cotton. (2). The death rate during the winter is very great. (3>. He emerges from hibernation very slow until mid-summer. (4). The development is very slow until hot weather. (51. The drying of infested squares -destroys the immature weevils. (6). The weevil is attacked by numerous enemies. (7). The weevil has but little ability to get out of the ground when covered with wet soil. Under field conditions the boll weevil will not eat anything but cotton hut when confined in eacres thev will oat bananas, apples, etc. They will eat these things'before they starve but when in the field they show no inclination for these things. The boll weevil does not migrate very far from the field in which it is matured, so by the rotation of crops they will remain in the old fields: and starve. By this method alone we are able to note a marked decrease in the number of weevils fhe next year. The Extension Division of the Department of Agriculture has worked out a new three .year rotation for this State in which -cotton ean be grown under weevil 'conditions. The new rotation is as follows: Divide the farm into three equal parts. On the first part of farm we plant cotton; on the second part we plant grain (oats, wheat, rye, etc) followed by cowpeas, and on the third portion of the farm, corn is planted. This takes up the ;first year of the rotation. The sec<on<i year, grain is planted on the 'old cotton land, corn is planted on vthei'wnd planted in grain the year "before, and cotton is planted on the old corn iana. me lUU U J tai , wiu | is planted on the land planted in .grain the year before, cotton on the "V. old corn land, and grain on the old cotton land. The main advantage of this rotation is that "Corn land is turned in fall or winter, and cotton may., therefore, be planted early with a thorough discing instead of breaking." * The death rate during the winter is verv great. Numerous experiments show that the ones that survive would not exceed 3 percent as an average. This time of year is when we do the most effective work against the insect. It has been estimated that the possible progeny from a single pair of weevils during j a season would amount to 12,755,100. j If this estimate be true, by killing as many of the grown weevils in the fall and winter as is possible we decrease the number very greatly the next summer. The weevil hibernattes in late fall and does not emerge until late the next spring. They spend the winter in trash piles, grassy ditch banks, aut houses, and in fact, anywhere they can get protection from the cold. It would be well to destroy all trash, grass, etc, either by burning or plowing under. The cotton stalks and old bolls in the field could be piled up ana ournea | if the field was not going to be plowed and the stalks turned under Even the burning of the stalks would be better and safer against the pest. We lose much organic matter by this method, but it would be better to grow cover crops after the stalks had been destroyed. The trash on ditch banks, fence corners, etc, should be destroyed in a similar manner. By using Ibis method efficiently we could reduce the number of weevils emerging in the spring to about 1.5 per cent which is about one-half that would survive the winter under normal conditions. The fact that the weevils do not emerge from hibernation very fast in the spring, and neither do they develop very fast until hot weather sets in, makes it easier to control the amount of cotton destroyed. When the boll weevils comes out in the spring the cotton is quite large i and the bolls are beginning to form. They feed on the cotton foliage or leaves and bolls. The females then lay their eggs inside the cotton squares. In about three days the eggs hatch into a small grub. Then this grub begins to feed on the inside of this square and in about twelve days this grub stage transforms into pupal stage, corresponding to the cocoon of butterflies and moths. They remain in this pupal stage from three to five days and then they turn into an adult boll weevil. In about five days another generation starts. From all that has been said it is clear that an early variety of cotton will have to be used. Of all the many ways and methods of combatting the boll weevil that has been worked out the growing of an early and rapid fruiting variety of cotton is the most important method to escape the damage of him. Most of us think of early cotton as cotton that opens its bolls early, but from a boll weevils standpoint we use that term to designate the cotton that is early and rapid fruiting. The cotton plant must make faster than the boll weevil can destroy it. The hasty opening of the bolls is not an important factor in the crop's escape from weevil damage. The boll weevil comes out very slow until mid summer, then there is a race beI tween him and the cotton. ' The I breeding of early cotton gives the plant a .good start on him. The total destruction of the squares occur late in the season when the weevils are greatly increased in number. When this happens the weevils begin feeding upon the youngest and latest bolls, but at this time the older bolls whether open or not, are safe from injury. Danger to the late bolls increases with the increase in the number of weevils present. It has been found by numerous investigators that the plants that set fruit early have low limbs -that is, sent out the first fruit limbs at the point nearest the seed-leaf joint. It was also found out that the plants that set fruit early had short joints or internodes in the main stems and fruit limbs. The short-jointed plants with low fruit limbs grew as fast during the first part cf the growing season as the long-jointed plants,and Cm 4-U^ onmo rvnrinrl nf timD mftTP I ill liic same jati ivu vi viiiiv vv. v v.v squares. The short-jointed varieties seemed to be more devoted to seed, while the long-jointed varieties seern ed to be more devoted to vegetative! I growth during the same period of time. Seed selection is generally believed to be a long processs.one where a little progress toward improvement, is made each year and in the course of several years the desired result may be obtained. This breeding work with cotton has shown that in the rirst selection, from the right; kind of plants,a marked increase can j be secured in early fruiting, rapid; fruiting and productiveness, combin-! ed with good-sized bolls, a good ave-j rage per cent of iint and a good! length of staple. So in the first; year's selection, a cotton can be established whose crop will successfully escape serious boll weevil damage. There is a disposition on the part of many growers to judge the yielding quality by the eye when all the bolls are open. The practice is extremely deceptive with a small boll medium-leaf cotton. The h.tter shows less bolls than it really has because of its larger leaf, and it may have fewer bolls but exceed the yield of the smaller boll cotton. Only with scales can a considerable difference in yield be determined. There are several standard varieties that have been found of value in weevil-ina/J fAMM?1 tvtAn/v fUom nro I 1C91CU LCI I IIUI y AIUUU^ tucui ui t Rowden, Triumph, Cleveland Big Boll, Cook's Improved and King. The drying out of infested squares soon destroys the immature weevils ; and makes it so we can cultivate so [ as to destroy many of the weevils in the field. There is always some shedding when the grubs begin to feed on the inside of the boll. There has been an implement devised by the Department of Agriculture with chains placed in a triangular shape, so that when it is drawn between the rows of cotton the bolls of cotton that have fallen will be drawn in the middle of the rows. When they I J are placed in the middles so that the sun can get to them the weevils inside will not live very long. The implement can also be used as a cultivator to form a dust mulch and also to kill the young weeds. (Plans for this implement can be gotten at this office; any blacksmith can make it). Without nature to assist us in combating this pest we would not have much chance in raising cotton for a profit. There are 45 species of insects that are known to be enemies of the boll weevil. Of this number, there are 23 species which place their eggs on the immature stages of the weevil within the squares cr boll. When the eggs from these insects hatch they feed upon the immature boll weevil, which destroys the weevil. It has been estimated that in a field near Robson, La, the mortality due to these insects was 77 per cent. The insects never feed upon vegetation. It has been suggested that the bolls that dropped from the stalks and held young weevils be placed in wire cages (16 to the inch), so that these insects would breed upon the young weevils, and the weevils could be held in captivity at the same time. The ants also do great damage to the weevil. There are l'J species that attack this pest. They do not attack the old weevils but feed on the immature weevils in the squares. In few cases it was estimated that these pnts destroyed 25 per cent of the immature weevils. The weevil has but little ability to get out of the ground when covered with wet soil. This can be done by fall plowing just after the cotton is picked. The habit of waiting until "after Christmas" to do this plow- j ing will not do the work. It must be done just after the cotton is picked, and all weevils that are covered with two inches of soil rarely reach the surface again. Frequent and shallow c Itivation the cotton so as to avoii. ill shedi ing thereof by the distu >ance of the root system is a goo*, practice and should be done all through the growing season. In many cases where a fair crop already set and j beyond the danger dt the Don weevil has been destroyed by running the plows so close to the plants as to cut the side roots and the plants shed most of their fruit. Then the weevils would not allow the second | crop of bolls to develop. Every pre" caution against shedding should be u.ed. The high price of cotton this year will no doubt cause many farmers to go into the cotton crop more heavily next year than they should. Indeed, large numbers of farmers are so near-sighted as to look only at the present prices of the different crops and do not think that they will have to prepare for this ^est. As I mentioned in the article previous to this,the boll weevil will certainly disturb economic conditions for the first few \ears. So it is hoped that every farmer will raise some tobacco,corn, wheat.oats,bacon, potatoes, cane and hay, so that there will be at least something to eat in' the home when the weevil does ciean up about 50 per cent of the cotton crop. If we do not begin now with the hogs, cows, etc, we cannot hope to buy these things with 50 per cent of a cotton crop. Therefore, I say, let us begin now to raise hogs, cattle, eggs, etc, for sale, so that when the boll weevil gets here we shall have something to fall back on. sss2Lr..T. ^::.,x^jKzxaBsmamam RUB OUT PAIN i i with oil liniment. That's , I the surest way to stop them. I The best rubbing liniment is II11 MUSTANG LINIMENT Good for the A ilmcnts of Horses, Mules, Cattle, Etc. Qood for jjour otcp Aches, Pains, Rheumatism, Sprains, Cuts, Burns, Etc. 25c. 5<X*!. At vi Dealers. I TOT- - mjQg: I ForBestResults H 9 Ship Your 3g I Long Staple Cotton S 1 Whaley & Rivers 1 jjH Original Promoters of Staple 10 LKiSciiMii ft %^.;r-X CHARLESTON.S.C. Sole Distributors of i n i Tir II n J)l "Black Kock wait ooara Moisture renting and special manufacture makes it the best. Write ub for samples and prices. This is a prescription prepared especially j lor MALARIA or CHILLS & FEVER. Five or six doses will break any case, and if taken then as a tonic the Fever will not return. 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