THE BOLL-WEEVIL PROBLEM. 21 



The great objection is that the innumerable weevils in the bolls and 

 squares will be allowed to develop. Nothing but uprooting and 

 burnmg will fully meet the exigencies caused by the weevil, but the 

 burnmg must be looked upon as an emergency measure especially 

 necessary in regions recently invaded by the weevil and to be re- 

 placed by burying after a few years. 



Plowing under injested squares. — It has been found that the weevil 

 has little ability to emerge through wet soil. This fact can not be 

 taken advantage of by the farmer during the growing season for the 

 reason that deep cultivation would cause injury to the plants. In 

 the summer or fall, however, when the weevils have become so numer- 

 ous that it is evident that very little fruit wiU be allowed to develop, 

 the practice can be followed to good advantage. At such times turn- 

 ing plows should be used, running close to the rows and thereby 

 burymg the infested squares deeply in the middles. This practice is 

 of greatest benefit in humid regions, where the rams will soon pack 

 the soil, and on heavy soils. In dry regions and on sandy soil it is 

 of very little value. 



Grazing. — In some cases the grazing of the fields with cattle, sheep, 

 or goats can be practiced. This is only a local measure, however, 

 since the supply of live stock in regions where the bulk of the cotton 

 crop is produced is insufficient for the purpose. 



Sprout cotton. — A most important result of the proper manipulation 

 of the plants in the faU is that no stumpage or sprout cotton is 

 allowed to grow. The occurrence of such cotton in southern Texas 

 and occasionally in southern Louisiana is there the most important 

 local difficulty in the control of the boll weevil. Sprout plants are 

 sometimes encouraged on account of the production of a small but 

 very early crop. This may have been defensible before the advent 

 of the boU weevil, but at the present time the practice is undoubtedly 

 the worst that could possibly be followed. The sprout plants serve 

 only to keep alive myriads of weevils that could easily be put out of 

 existence by the farmer. 



Volunteer cotton. — In addition to stumpage cotton, volunteer cotton, 

 in the strict sense, is of considerable importance in weevil-infested 

 areas. The cotton seed scattered about seed houses and gins fre- 

 quently gives rise to plants, both in the fall and in the spring, that 

 fm-nish food and breeding places for weevils. It is needless to call 

 attention to the fact that all such plants should be destroyed. They 

 are merely aids to the enemy. 



DESTRUCTION OP WEEVILS IN HIBERNATING PLACES. 



After the weevil-infested plants have been removed from the field 

 in the fall the planter can add strength to the blow he has given the 

 insect. As has been stated previously, many of the hibernating 



