SB 

 818 



C578 1 No. 95. Revised Edition. Issued September 21, 1908. 



nited States Department of Agriculture, 



BUREAU OF ENTOMOLOGY, 

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



ENT 



THE MOST IMPORTANT STEP IN THE CONTROL OF THE 



BOLL WEEVIL. 



By W. D. Hunter, 

 In Charge of Southern Field Crop Insect and Tide Investigations. 



Damage by the boll weevil during the present season (1908) has one 

 very peculiar feature. Except in the southern third of the total infested 

 area the damage by this insect has been considerably less than normal. 

 This situation was caused principally by very exceptional climatic con- 

 ditions in the fall of 1907 which reduced greatly the numbers of weevils 

 that passed through the winter. As these peculiar conditions did not 

 extend to the southern limits of the weevil-infested area, the crop has 

 been cut very short in southern localities both in Texas and Louisiana. 

 With normal conditions during the coming fall and winter the weevil 

 problem will be as serious everywhere next j'ear as it has been in the 

 southern regions during the present season. This circular points out 

 exactly how planters can avert such a catastrophe. Now is the time to 

 prepare for the crop of next season. 



It has been repeatedly pointed out in publications of the Department 

 of Agriculture that the most important step in controlling the boll 

 weevil is the removal of the plants from the field as early as practicable 

 in the fall. This was one of the original suggestions made by the Chief 

 of this Bureau when the boll weevil was confined to a comparatively 

 small area in Texas. Much subsequent work has shown the value of 

 the original recommendation. Unfortunately the process of fall destruc- 

 tion of plants for controlling the boll weevil has been taken up but 

 slowly b}^ the planters. This is largely on account of the practical dif- 

 ficulties relating to the tenant system, and the scarcity of labor which 

 has interfered with picking out the crop. 



The agitation of the necessit}' for procuring an early crop in order to 

 avoid damage b}^ the cotton boll weevil has been carried on to such an 

 extent by the Department of Agriculture that the details have become 

 common knowledge. There is, however, a tendency on the part of 

 manj' planters to lose sight of the fact that procuring an early crop is 

 but one step, and is strictly secondary to the great essential step, namely, 

 the destruction in the fall of the plants in the field. As a matter of 

 fact, early planting, the use of early varieties, and the use of fertilizers 

 are simply to further the advantage gained by the process of fall 

 destruction. 



A PRACTICAL ILLUSTRATION. 



In the fall of 1906 the Bureau of Entomology conducted a large prac- 

 tical field test of the effectiveness of fall destruction of the plants in the 

 control of the weevil. An isolated locality was found in Texas where 

 over 400 acres of cotton were grown. There was no other cotton grown 



