THE BOLL WEEVIL PROBLEM. 19 
Second. Many more weevils that are in the immature stages, 
possibly as many as a hundred for each plant in the field, are also 
killed. 
Third. The few adult weevils escaping will be weakened by star- 
vation and the great majority will not have sufficient strength to 
pass through the winter. 
Fourth. The development of the late broods, which experiments 
have shown furnish the vast majority of weevils that pass through 
the winter, is cut off immediately. In this way hundreds of weevils 
that would develop from each plant are absolutely prevented from 
so doing. 
Fifth. The removal of the infested plants with the weevils facili- 
tates fall or early winter plowing, which is the best possible procedure 
in cotton raising. Moreover, this plowing assists greatly in the pro- 
duction of an early crop the following season. 
In short, in the fall the weevil is at the mercy of the planter as it is 
at no other time. If the planter desires to kill the insect he can do so. 
Work in weevil destruction at that time far outbalances all remedial 
measures that may be applied at all other times of the year. 
Many hundreds of cases are on record showing the benefit from the 
fall destruction of plants in the control of the boll weevil. The proc- 
ess has not been taken up so generally as it should be, but individual 
instances everywhere show its value. <A large amount of experimen- 
tal work by the Bureau of Entomology has all pointed clearly toward 
the supreme importance of this essential method in control. In an 
experiment performed by the Bureau of Entomology in Calhoun 
County, Tex., the stalks growing on 410 acres of land were destroyed 
early in October. Careful records kept during the following season 
showed that this work had increased the production more than one- 
fourth of a bale per acre over the crop on the check area where such 
work was not done. Computing the increase in the crop at the cur- 
rent prices, the advantage from the work in the experiment amounted 
to $14.56 per acre. This was about 29 times the cost of uprooting and 
burning the plants, as shown by the amount actually paid by the 
department for the work. Circumstances surrounding the experi- 
ment, referred to in Circular 95 of the Bureau of Entomology, show 
that the advantage was probably considerably greater than has been 
indicated here. At any rate, the estimate given is most conservative. 
In this instance the cotton destroyed was isolated and the results are 
perhaps somewhat more conspicuous than would have been the case 
where there were hundreds of cotton fields in the neighborhood. 
Nevertheless, experience with fields surrounded by others that have 
been given no attention has shown a great advantage from taking the 
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