ic 
of its very detrimental bearing on the weevil problem, any attempt to 
raise cotton from volunteer cotton should by all means be discouraged. 
The point may be raised that the burning of the plants in the fall 
removes valuable fertilizing constituents and that the continuance of 
the practice would seriously reduce the fertility of the soil. In refer- 
ence to this matter, however, it must be stated that the present general 
practice 1s to clear the fields by burning the plants in the spring. 
Therefore, practically the only additional draft upon the soil by the 
method recommended is in the burning of many of the leaves and a 
portion of the roots. However, destruction of the plants can only take 
place after many of the leaves have fallen, and, in other cases, when 
the plants have become completely defoliated by the cotton caterpillar. 
The fertilizing constituents in various parts of the cotton plant have 
been carefully determined. An estimate of the value of all the con- 
stituents which could possibly be removed by fall destruction, based 
upon the schedule of trade values adopted by experiment stations for 
1898, shows that the loss per acre would be very small. It is plain 
that the planter could not only regain this small loss but actually 
greatly increase the fertility of the land by the use of commercial fer- 
tilizers, which would cost an inconsiderable amount in comparison 
with the gain in the following crop, as a result of lessened damage by 
the boll weevil. 
As a matter of fact, the preceding objections are not necessarily 
serious. They deal with general changes in cotton culture made neces- 
sary by the ravages of the boll weevil. As is beginning to be well 
known to planters, it will not be possible for tenants to work as much 
land as formerly. More cotton will be produced by decreasing acre- 
ages and increasing the attention given to what remains. If this is 
done the objections mentioned will largely disappear. 
CONCLUSION. 
Having studied and tested the methods of weevil control which 
have been hitherto recommended, the writer firmly believes that the 
destruction of the stalks in the early fall is the most effective method 
known of actually reducing the numbers of the pest. This destruc- 
tion will cost but a small fraction of the expense necessary in the 
frequent picking up in the spring of the squares infested by the 
hibernated weevils, and is far more thorough as a means of reducing 
the numbers of the weevils than is the practice of picking hibernated 
weevils from the young plants. Early destruction of the stalks is 
essential to the greatest success of any system of controlling the pest. 
All other practices recommended, though very valuable in securing a 
crop, are of the greatest value as they are followed in connection with 
this one prime essential. Since the earliest investigations of the boll 
weevil made by this Department it has been recognized and pointed 
out by Dr. L. O. Howard that this practice is of the first importance, 
and the experience of recent years has added but certainty to this 
conviction. A number of planters have adopted it, and their work 
and large scale work by the Bureau of Entomology have abundantly 
a See Bulletin 33 of the Office of Experiment Stations of this Department, pp. 
81 to 142. 
[Cir. 95] 
