18 FARMERS BULLETIN 848. 



practicable to uproot and destroy the plants growing upon them. 

 The greatest importance of fall destruction is undoubtedly in the 

 southern and southeastern portions of the uifested territory, where 

 the cotton fields are small and labor is available for performing 

 the work in ample time. 



The object of the fall destruction of plants is the killing of the 

 hordes of adult weevils that are ready to enter hibernation in the fall 

 and the prevention of the development of millions more that would 

 emerge later to pass through the winter. This is accomplished by 

 cutting and burying or burnmg the infested plants in the fall after 

 the weevils have become so numerous that there is no prospect of the 

 maturity of any additional crop. There are many vital reasons why 

 the wholesale destruction of the weevils in the fall should be prac- 

 ticed wherever possible. Some of these are stated here. 



First. — Hordes of adult weevils, many for each plant in the field, 

 are killed outright. 



Second. — Many more weevils that are in the immature stages, 

 sometimes as many as a hundred for each plant in the field, are 

 also killed. 



Third. — The few adult weevils escaping wiU 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 tlirough 

 the winter, is cut off immediately. In this way hundreds of weevils 

 that would develop from each plant are prevented absolutely from 

 so doing. 



Fifth. The removal of the infested plants with the weevils facili- 

 tates f aU 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, m the fall the weevil is at the mercy of the planter as it is 

 at no other tune. 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 aU 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 growmg 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- 



