INSECTS AND BIRDS. 281 



Diversification. With the boll weevil present the 

 farmer can never count on a large cotton crop, and if 

 he follows the old plan of buying corn, hay, meat, 

 butter, eggs, vegetables and other things that he could 

 raise himself, he finds that at the end of the season he 

 owes the merchant more than his small cotton crop will 

 bring. This state of affairs has compelled the farmer 

 to " diversify," that is, to raise crops of many kinds 

 so that he will not have to buy, at high prices, the food 

 and supplies which he can produce at home. When 

 the farmer thus makes his farm " self-supporting " he 

 is not in debt at the end of the year, and his cotton crop 

 is clear profit on the year's farming operations, no 

 matter whether the crop is large or small. It is only 

 by thus adapting sound business principles and common 

 sense to his profession of farming that the planter can 

 continue to grow cotton when he has the boll weevil to 

 contend with. 



Preventing Damage by the Boll Weevil. Ever since 

 the boll weevil first entered Texas, many different plans 

 have been tried for his destruction. Poisons have 

 been tested extensively. Both Paris green and Lon- 

 don purple will kill quite a number of the weevils in 

 early spring, but as these poisons injure the cotton 

 plants as well as the weevils, their use in this connec- 

 tion is unprofitable. Recently made experiments indi- 

 cate that a new poison, known as " powdered arsenate 

 of lead," when properly used, will prove of value in 

 fighting the weevil. 



Burn the Cotton Stalks. There is but one practical 

 way of destroying the boll weevils. That is by picking 

 the cotton as fast as it opens, and then destroying the 

 cotton plants by cutting them down and burning them. 

 Where the boll weevil occurs, no " top crop," or late 

 crop, is ever secured, hence all the cotton actually made 

 opens before October I5th, and can be picked by that 

 date. The plants should be cut down before October 

 1 5th, and burned before November ist. As will be 

 readily seen, this destruction of the cotton plants 



