20 FARMERS BULLETIN 848. 



much better to sacrifice a small quantity of cotton than to defer the 

 operation. The loss wiU more than be made good by an increase in 

 the next crop. 



Objections to the work of destroying the weevils in the fall are 

 frequently raised. The principal one is that the labor supply is 

 insufficient to enable planters to have the crop picked out in time for 

 such fall destruction as is recommended. One of the respects in 

 which the boU weevil will make revolutionary changes in the system 

 of producing cotton is that smaller areas than formerly must be cul- 

 tivated by each hand. The production can best be kept up or in- 

 creased by more intensive methods on smaller areas. If this principle 

 be put in operation on plantations in so far as it is practicable, the 

 objection to fall destruction on account of the scarcity of labor will 

 tend to disappear. Another objection raised is that the process tends 

 to impoverish the soil. As a matter of fact, the burning of the stalks 

 removes only a small amount of the fertilizing elements, and, more- 

 over, the practice now is to burn the plants a few months later. The 

 humus is much more important than the fertilizing elements them- 

 selves. 



In regions where the loss of organic matter from the burning of 

 the stalks is important, the best advice that can be given is to cut 

 the stalks by means of the usual machine for that purpose and bury 

 them deeply as soon thereafter as possible. This wiU cause the de- 

 stniction of many of the immature stages in the squares and boUs. 

 The practice wiU be more effective if the land is harrowed or dragged 

 immediately after the stalks are plowed under. 



Where none of the practices recommended can be followed, it 

 only remams for the planter to uproot the plants and leave them 

 lymg in the field. This will cut off the development of squares and 

 thereby deprive the weevils of opportunities for breeding, while the 

 plants remam in the field so that picking can be continued as long as 

 may be necessary. 



METHODS OF DESTROYING WEEVILS IN THE FALL. 



In this comiection it may be stated that the proper method, m 

 general, is to uproot the plants by means of plows and to bury or 

 burn them as soon as possible. Other methods are applicable to 

 different conditions. If the plants are to be burned they should be 

 placed m piles or windrows, which wiU utilize the leaves in the burn- 

 mg. Tlie difficulty in one method of removmg the plants — that of 

 cutting them off near the surface of the ground with a stalk cutter 

 or ax — is that during mild seasons many sprouts soon make their 

 appearance to furnish food for weevils that would otherwise starve 

 during the faU or winter. If the ordinary stalk cutter be followed 

 i:r.mediately by plows, some of the desired results wiU be obtained. 



