SB 
818 
C578 
ENT 
Issued October 3, 1907. 
CIRCULAR No, 95. (REVISION OF CIRCULAR No. 56.) 
United States Department of Agriculture, 
BUREAU OF ENTOMOLOGY. 
L. O. HOWARD, Entomologist and Chief of Bureau. 
THE MOST IMPORTANT STEP IN THE CONTROL OF THE BOLL WEEVIL. 
By W. D. HuNTER, 
In Charge of Cotton Boil Weevil Investigations. 
It has been repeatedly pointed out in publications of the Depart- 
ment 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 destruction of plants for controlling the boll weevil 
has been taken up but slowly by the planters. This is largely on 
account of the practical difficulties relating to the tenant system and 
the scarcity of labor which has interfered with picking out the crop. 
The agitation of the necessity for procuring an early crop in order 
to avoid damage by 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 many 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 advan- 
tage gained by the process of fall destruction. 
A PRACTICAL ILLUSTRATION. 
In the fall of 1906 the Bureau of Entomology conducted a large 
practical field test of the effectiveness of fall destruction of the plants 
in the control of the weevil. An isolated locality was found where 
over 400 acres of cotton was grown. There was no other cotton 
grown in any direction nearer than 15 miles. Through an agent of 
the Bureau, Mr. J. D. Mitchell, to whom great credit is due for the 
direct management of the matter, arrangements were made by con- 
tracts with the farmers concerned under which all the cotton plants 
were uprooted and burned during the first ten days in October. Pro- 
11577—No. 95—07 
