METHODS IN BOLL-WEEVIL INVESTIGATIONS. Ill 



FERTILIZERS. 



Onr experience in experimenting with fertilizers has been limited. 

 It was strictly confined to a very small part of the experimental cot- 

 ton i^lats at College Station. We are fully convinced that acid 

 phosphate is the all-important fertilizer under onr conditions — the 

 soil being about 2 feet in depth, of a sandy nature, and underlaid by 

 an impermeable clay pan. 



Summarizing what has been said, Ave come to the following con- 

 clusions, which must guide us in our work at the present time: First, 

 that the cultural system is the only reliable procedure in the produc- 

 tion of a cotton crop in Texas; second, that this system, in order to 

 be effective, must be intelligently carried out in all of its important 

 details; third, that the fall destruction of stalks is less generally 

 practiced than other reconnnendations made, as embraced in the cul- 

 tural system, and needs effective campaigning; fourth, that shallow 

 cultivation on uplands should be more universally practiced, because 

 it forms the most perfect mulch and saves labor and expense; fifth, 

 that by thorough cultivation is meant such a number of cultivations 

 as will insure the maintenance of a blanket of dry soil at the surface 

 of the ground. 



LABORATORY METHODS IN THE COTTON BOLL WEEVIL INVESTI- 

 GATIONS. 



By W. E. Hinds, Dallas, Tex.\ 



By way of introduction, let me state that 1 shall interpret my sub- 

 ject as including not only the methods in the cotton boll weevil inves- 

 tigation which may be classed as strictly " laboratory,'" but also those 

 field methods which have been employed m checking laboratory 

 results and in determining under the most natural conditions many 

 of the most important answers to questions regarding the life history, 

 habits, enemies, etc., of tlie weevil. Though used in the field, these are, 

 in a broad sense, " laboratory methods," and will be so considered. 

 Unless indoor results are checked by observations made in the field, 

 important points are sure to be overlooked and serious errors are 

 'Apt to creep into conclusions drawn from the work. I shall touch 

 briefly, as is necessary, upon methods employed in three divisions of 

 the work — namely, research, record, and illustration. Though no 

 claim for originality can be made for many of these methods, I shall 

 endeavor to avoid taking up time with that which is the common 

 practice of economic entomologists, and confine myself to those 

 methods which contain some suggestion of newness either in theory, 

 practice, or equipment. 



