114 KNAPP METHOD OF GROWING COTTON 



that only part of the growers follow the plan. 

 It requires early maturing cottons and rapid 

 gathering to get the crop out in time to do this 

 work to the best advantage. 



If delay is made until after a heavy frost and 

 a large number of the weevils have escaped from 

 the field, either to hibernate or to go elsewhere 

 then to cut and burn stalks may be of little 

 value, and the better practice is to thoroughly 

 cut the stalks and plow them under. 



It is seldom practicable for farmers in the 

 northern portion of the cotton belt to cut and 

 burn stalks early enough to be of value. 



The next most important work in eliminating 

 the weevils is in the spring, when the cotton 

 plants begin to put on squares and the infesting 

 weevil punctures them. The grower should 

 take note of this and immediately attach a 

 pole to the handles of the cultivator so as to 

 knock the bush and hasten the falling off of 

 the squares, and then the squares must be 

 carefully picked up and burned. In one sense 

 this picking up of squares goes to the root of 

 the matter more than early fall destruction of 

 the stalk, because in the fall destruction only 

 a small percentage of the weevils would live 



