COTTON 215 



possibility that the boll-weevil will ever be exterminated/' 

 and also "that it will eventually be distributed over all 

 the cotton-belt." 



The weevil appears in early summer, and first attacks 

 the buds, or squares, which are blasted by the attack and 

 soon drop off. If any of the blossoms escape the attack 

 of the little insect, the bolls develop unmolested during 

 the early season; for, as long as the insects are not very 

 numerous and the buds continue to form, it attacks them 

 only. It is thus readily seen that the hope of the farmer, 

 in infested districts, must rest in an endeavor to produce 

 a crop early enough in the season to form a large per- 

 centage of bolls before the weevil appears. It is also of 

 much importance that the fields be cleared in the fall 

 and plowed. If cattle can be turned into the cotton field 

 after the picking is finished, they will undoubtedly destroy 

 a great many weevils, but the fall plowing of the land should 

 not be neglected. Frost destroys the weevil to some ex- 

 tent, and its winter hibernating places should be broken 

 up. It is also advisable to burn the grass around the 

 borders of the fields, and to destroy all " volunteer cotton" 

 on which the weevil might live. 



The boll- worm stands second in importance as a menace 

 to the cotton crop, but experience teaches that this insect 

 is also beaten by an early crop. The boll-worm feeds on 

 many other plants besides cotton, and it does not usually 

 appear in the cotton fields until corn and other crops 

 have so far matured as to be no longer attractive to it. 

 If the attack of the boll-worm should be especially severe, 

 the dusting of the plants with Paris green may be resorted 

 to. Two applications at intervals of ten days will be re- 



