45 



vils llian In- could secure by hand picking- 



Mdchiiu's For Collecting Weevils. — A great many 

 machines have ])een invented, and tested more or less 

 thoroughly, to do this work. None has yet shown it- 

 sell' capable of doing as thorough or economical work 

 as can be done by the hand method, although some of 

 these machines are said to have cost a thousand dollars 

 ai)iece to build them. Planters will do well to get a 

 disinterested opinion from the Entomologist regarding 

 the merits of any boll weevil machine before investing, 

 in one. 



Summer Control Difficnlt and Expensive. — Although 

 no sunmier i)ractice is nearly as effective as is the 

 early fall destruction of stalks for holding the 

 weevils in check, the measures mentioned may be 

 profitably followed under especially favorable condi- 

 tions. The deciding factors are usually an available 

 labor supply that costs little if any extra, and a moist 

 condition of the surface soil wdien squares begin to 

 fall. While it will not often pay to employ hands to 

 collect weevils or to pick up fallen infested squares at 

 even 75 cents per day, it will pay to collect them if the 

 children in the family can do the work. Most cotton 

 squares fall to the ground in about ten days after the 

 weevil eggs are placed in them, and when the grub is 

 about half grown. Plate III, figure 5. In from five to ten 

 days more they may produce adult weevils. If it is 

 very hot and dry and the surface soil forms a dust 

 mulch, fallen squares exposed to the direct sunshine 

 would be "baked" so that all weevil stages in them 

 would be killed. It would not then pay to pick up 

 s((uares. If done at all, it pays to get the first fallen 

 squares, to pick also all evidently infested squares 

 from the plants and to do the work thoroughly. Natur- 

 ally these summer methods are much more expensive 

 than the relatively simpK' matter of early fall (lestruc- 

 lion of the cotton stalks. The expense of collecting 

 weevils and squares, even with the hoop and sack out- 

 fit, ranges usually from ^2 to $0 per acre. 



Insecticides Xot Ilelpfnl. — No direct insecticidal 

 ])ractice can be recommended, as it is practically im- 

 possible to reach the weevils on account of their pe- 

 culiar feeding and breeding habits. This is the reason 

 why we must depend ui)on cultural methods for wee- 

 vil control. If the cultural methods here outlined are 

 faithfully practiced then there should be little ditliculty 



