34 FOR BETTER CROPS IN THE SOUTH 



weevils and the incubators of the immature weevils— where the 

 cotton fields are fenced and the number of cattle turned into 

 the field is sufficient to eat all the squares, small bolls and 

 leaves in a few days. However, let it be distinctly understood 

 that the practice of turning a few head of cattle into a field of 

 fifteen or twenty acres of cotton stalks accomplishes no partic- 

 ular good. We all know from observation that two or three 

 head of cattle per acre, even when confined in the cotton field, 

 will eat very little of the green foliage in ten days. And let us 

 not forget that it is necessary to destroy completely the food 

 supply of the mature weevils and to stop the development of 

 broods at the earliest possible stage. 



Plowing Under the Gotton Stalks is a good method of 

 destroying the only food suppl'y of the mature weevils and of 

 ending the life of the immature weevils where there are few 

 stumps, small cotton stalks, and where large plows and strong 



^%ajhH Warm 



A serious drawback to Southern agriculture 



teams can be had. I have held the plow handles in the piney 

 woods, in the prairie section, and in the rich bottom lands, and 

 I know from experience that it is very difficult to bury com- 

 pletely the average size cotton stalks. I have hitched three 

 large mules to a twelve-inch steel beam turning plow with a log 

 chain attachment and failed to turn completely under average 

 size cotton stalks on land clear of stumps. I have failed to 

 turn under large size cotton stalks with four large mules hitched 

 to a thirty-inch disk plow. In fact, farmers who have attempted 

 to plow under green cotton stalks early in the fall laugh at the 

 advice sometimes given to plow under the stalks at all times 

 and under all conditions as a means of destroying the food sup- 

 ply of the weevils. However, let us use large plows and strong 

 teams and completely bury the stalks wherever it can be done. 

 Burning the Cotton Stalks as soon as the cotton is picked 

 out it is absolutely necessary on farms and plantations where 

 there is an insufficient number of cattle to denude the cotton 



