

SB 

 818 



C578 iO. 10?. Issued January 12. 1909. 



ENT 



ited States Department of Agriculture, 



BUREAU OF ENTOMOLOGY, 



L. O. HOWARD, Entomologist and Chief of Bureau. 



WHAT CAN BE DONE IN DESTROYING THE COTTON BOLL 

 WEEVIL DURING THE WINTER. 



By W. D. Hunter, 

 In Charge of Southern Field Crop Insect and Tick Investigations. 



IMPORTANCE OP WINTER WORK. 



The boll weevil attracts greatest attention during the growirig season 

 of cotton, for the simple reason that its damage is then most evident. 

 When the infested squares are falling b}' millions every day the planter 

 is driven to most strenuous efforts to check the loss. The summer 

 season, however, is the one in which it is most difficult to combat the 

 weevil. The pest can be attacked in various waj^s at different seasons 

 of the year. This circular attempts to point out what can be done in 

 the winter when the weevils are in hibernating quarters and when nat- 

 ural conditions are assisting the farmer greatly by reducing the number 

 that will be able to survive until spring. At this time the farmer can 

 undoubtedly accomplish more than by hand-picking weevils and squares 

 or any other direct method of control that can be, put into operation in 

 the summer season. A great advantage that winter work has in many 

 cases is that it involves no special outlay and consequently adds nothing 

 to the cost of producing cotton. The work can be done during the 

 quiet period of the winter and at such times as will not interfere with 

 the general work of the plantation. Even on plantations run largely or 

 entirely by "wages hands" this work would undoubtedly warrant an 

 oiftlay on the part of the planter. As a matter of fact the winter season 

 could well be made the most active of the year as far as the destruction 

 of the weevil is concerned. 



It is true that the Texas farmers have not paid much attention to 

 work against the weevil in the winter, but this does not by any means 

 indicate that such work will not be of prime importance to the planters 

 in Louisiana and Mississippi. Nature has afforded the Texas farmer 

 many advantages over the planter in the eastern part of the cotton belt. 

 As has been pointed out in other publications of the Bureau of Ento- 

 mology, the Mississippi Valley planter will be compelled to contend 

 against many more weevils each spring than the climatic conditions in 

 Texas have ever permitted to survive. For instance, in the spring of 

 1908 it was determined by Mr. Wilmon Newell, secretary of the State 

 crop pest commission of Louisiana, that as many as 6,000 hibernated 

 weevils per acre made their appearance in certain cotton fields in Avoy- 

 elles Parish, Louisiana. This shows a survival of weevils far beyond 

 what has ever been found in Texas. There are many other indications 

 of the special seriousness of the weevil problem in the Mississippi Val- 



AG 31 



