272 INSECT PESTS OF FARM," GARDEN AND ORCHARD 



attachments. An arm or projection that will brush the plant 

 should be attached to whatever cultivator is used so that the 

 squares will be knocked to the ground, as the effect of the heat is 

 greater the earlier the squares drop. 



During 1909 Professor Wilmon Newell and his assistants demon- 

 strated at several places in Louisiana that the weevil may be suc- 

 cessfully poisoned by the use of dry or powdered arsenate of lead, 

 though previous experiments with dry Paris green and arsenate 

 of lead as a liquid spray had not proven of practical value for vari- 

 ous reasons. An increase of 71 per cent of the crop was secured 

 on considerable areas and the results were duplicated by practical 

 planters. Professor Newell recommends that the poison be 

 applied first when the first squares appear and that five appli- 

 cations be given at weekly intervals. The poison must be 

 applied by hand with a powder-gun so that it is blown into the 

 squares. The first application' requires about 2 pounds per acre 

 and the last 5 to 7 pounds. The cost for labor and materials will 

 amount to from $5 to $7 per acre, but at this rate the operation 

 will show a decided profit with the above amount of benefit as 

 long as cotton sells at over 8 cents per pound. Although the use 

 of powdered arsenate of lead is still in an experimental stage, it 

 promises- to become one of the most important means of com- 

 bating the boll weevil, particularly in the river bottoms of the 

 Mississippi basin, where conditions for the multiplication and 

 hibernation of the weevil are particularly favorable.* 



* See Newell and Smith, Circular 33, Louisiana Crop Pest Commission, 

 Baton Rouge, La. 



