IO PROCEEDINGS OF THE BOLL WEEVIL CONVENTION. 



"Some people seem to think that the boll weevil is about as big as one's 

 fist. Financially he is much bigger, but physically he is not quite that 

 large. But the boll weevil is not all bad. Occasionally we get a little fun 

 out of him. A farmer told a story about trying to exterminate the boll 

 weevil on his farm which has some elements of humor. He said that 

 he gathered all the insects in his crop and put them in a glass jar, put 

 the jar under a brush heap and set the brush heap afire. When the heap 

 burned down he raked the ashes over with a rake. He said he found the 

 jar red hot and the weevils inside, red hot, too. He thought they were 

 dead, but he opened the jar and the weevils flew out. 'And confound 

 them,' he said, tearfully afterward, 'they flew into my barn and set it 

 afire.' 



"The weevil is a hidden foe. He 



FIGHTS BEHIND BREASTWORKS. 



We cannot poison him, or least, we have not found out so far how to 

 do it. The eggs are laid inside the boll, and mature on the ground after 

 the boll has -fallen off, out of the reach of poison. By following improved 

 methods, it is possible to produce a crop even in the infected districts. If 

 all the fallen bolls are picked off the ground and burned, and the weevils 

 not allowed to mature, methods of culture, to produce, at an slight in- 

 crease to the cost of production. It is possible, by following improved 

 methods of culture to produce, at an added cost of $2 or $3 per acre, 

 an average crop of from one-half to three-quarters of a bale. The dif- 

 ficulty is in persuading the average farmer to follow improved methods. 



"[ am unable to express an opinion on the best methods of keeping the 

 boll weevil out of Louisiana. But whatever we can do in Texas, in 

 co-operation with you and the Government, you may rest assured that 

 the Executive Committee of the Texas Boll Weevil Commission will be 

 pleased to lend a helping hand in all that vou undertake." 



The next speaker was : 



DR. W. D. HUNTER, 



one of the United States entomologists in the Department of Agriculture. 

 Dr. Hunter said in part: 



"The boll weevil was probably brought into the United States by being 

 transported from the cotton region of Mexico in the boats that were used 

 to carry freight across the Rio Grande, in cotton that was bound for 

 Brownsville to be ginned and baled. The weevil was carried across 200 

 miles. 



"The farmers of that region wrote to the Department of Agriculture 

 that some strange insect had appeared down there that was ruining the 

 cotton. This awakened interest in the Department, and in March, 1895, 



