95 



now TUF. BOLL WEI^VIL MAY BE SUCCESSFULLY 



CONTROLLED. 



The great diflficulty in fig^hting the boll weevil has arisen 

 from the fact that the peculiar habits of the adult and the 

 protection of the imniatui'e stages within the squares and 

 bolls render it practically useless to attempt to destroy 

 them by any usual methods of insecticidal treatment. Hun- 

 dreds of remedies have been tested and found ineffective for 

 the above reasons, if for no others. As in human warfare, 

 one of the most effective measures of subduing an enemv 

 consists in destroying their food supplies, so it is equally 

 true in the case of an insect which is dependent upon one 

 species of food i)lant as is the boll weevil. That the weevil 

 can be effectively controlled and the culture of cotton con- 

 tinued at fully as great profit as has usually been realized 

 without the weevil, has been proven possible through the 

 practical application in many thousands of cases in the 

 weevil area of improved methods in cotton culture and in 

 general agricultural practice. Some of these measures 

 take advantage of and increase the effectiveness of certain 

 factors of natural coiifrol. Most of them, however, are 



merely steps in a system of cotton culture which 



prepare the way for the ai>]ili('ntion of the one most ef- 

 fective direct method of destroying immense 

 numbers of weevils by cutting off their food 

 supply at the only season of the year \vhen the 

 destruction of cotton is possible, practicable and 

 most effective in reducing the number of wee- 

 vils. The final step is the complete destruction 

 of all green cotton at least three or four weeks 

 before the usual date for the occurence of the 

 first killing frost in the fall. This has often 

 been called the most important single step in the cul- 

 tural system of controlling the boll weevil. It may seem 

 to many that it cannot be successfully applied under the 

 conditions existing In Alabama. That has been clnimod 



