CONTROLLING THE BOLL WEEVIL IN COTTON SEED AND AT 



GINNERIES. 



COTTON SEED AND GINNERIES AS FACTORS IN THE SPREAD OF 



THE BOLL WEEVIL. 



The extent to which cotton seed and ginneries are factors in the 

 dissemination of the boll weevil has not been realized generally. Dur- 

 ing the present season the Bureau of Entomology has paid particular 

 attention to this matter and has demonstrated that ginneries are the 

 most important single factors in disseminating the pest. At least 

 in regions where the cotton fields are somewhat isolated, spreading 

 of the insect by flight, aided by the wind, seems to be of little 

 importance compared with this artificial agency. The cooperation 

 of this Department with the Louisiana crop pest commission, which 

 is engaged in an attempt to prevent the further entrance of the wee- 

 vil into that State, has given many opportunities for determining 

 the exact means whereby weevils reach new regions. At the present 

 time this work has led to the conclusion that if it were possible to con- 

 trol the pest at gins, it might be possible to greatly retard its present 

 rate of spreading, but that without any such means of control there 

 is great doubt about the feasibility of an attempt to check its spread, 

 unless, indeed, measures are taken to prohibit in uninfested localities 

 the ginning of cotton from infested regions. Early in the season of 

 1903 five trained men connected with this Bureau were stationed in the 

 western parishes of Louisiana. The infested fields have been deter- 

 mined very carefully, and a special study has been made of the means 

 by which they became infested. It was soon found that Texas cotton 

 growers along the Sabine River were accustomed to ginning their cot- 

 ton in Louisiana. Various localities in the eastern tier of counties in 

 Texas have been infested for nearly two years. One farmer by bring- 

 ing seed cotton from Texas to Louisiana gins would cause those gins 

 to become infested. From these infested gins the spread of the wee- 

 vil has been traced carefully. In some cases customers of an infested 

 gin changed to an uninfested one during the season and thus carried 

 weevils with them. Instances have also been recorded where farmers 

 collected seed from uninfested cotton on wagon sheets at a gin where 



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