36 farmers' bulletin 848. 



FALSE REMEDIES. 



The extreme seriousness of the boll-weevil problem has called forth 

 many hundreds of suggestions in control. These have covered such 

 methods as changes in maimer of planting, attracting the insects to 

 food plants or hghts, soaking the seeds to make the plants distasteful, 

 sprays, machines, chemical fumes, and the planting of various plants 

 supposed to be repellent. In many cases these suggestions have been 

 made without due understanding of the habits of the weevil. In 

 other cases practical feature>?, such as the cost of application, have 

 not been considered. The following paragraphs deal with some of the 

 principal fallacious methods that have been proposed. 



Late 'planting. — Foremost among the futile means of control is late 

 planting. At various times different persons have suggested that 

 late planting, especially if following early fall destruction, would so 

 lengthen the hibernating period that no weevils would be permitted 

 to siu'vive. Very numerous experiments in the field and in cages 

 have proved that the weevils in considerable numbers are able to 

 survive from any reasonable time of early destruction in the fall to 

 beyond the date in the spring when any return whatever could be 

 expected from planting cotton, even if the weevils were entirely elimi- 

 nated. 'In a field experiment performed in Kerr Comity, Tex., the 

 plants were removed very thoroughly early in November. Neither 

 stumpage nor volunteer plants were allowed to grow during the 

 winter. There was no other cotton planted within 9 mUes. On 

 the experimental field planting was deferred until Jime 10. In spite 

 of this fact weevils appeared as soon as the plants were up and multi 

 plied so rapidly that the production was not sufficient to waiTant 

 picking. Similar experiments carried out under different conditions 

 by the State Crop Pest Commission of Louisiana ^ agi-ee in every 

 way with those obtained by the Bureau of Entomology in Texas. 



The reasons for the failure of late planting are evideTit from 

 study of the habits of the insect. In many cage experiments it has 

 been found that the last emerging weevils in the spring appear well 

 mto the month of Jmie. In fact, emergence has taken place as 

 late as the 27th and 28th of Jmie. Without any food whatever the 

 emerging weevils are able to survive for some time. The maximiun 

 known survival of any hibernated weevil without any food what- 

 ever after emergence was 90 days, and a considerable number lived 

 from 6 to 12 weeks after emergence. This ability to survive with- 

 out food, together with the late emergence, renders it entirely out of 

 the question to extermhiate the boU weevil by late planthig. More- 

 over, there are always to be found along roads, turn rows, in cot- 

 ton fields, and elsewhere, a considerable number of volunteer plants. 



1 See Bulletin 2 of the Louisiana Agricultural ICxperiment Station, published in 1907 



