AORUTLTrnAL APPnoiMUATlOX BIIJ^ lft24. 29r> 



l)()(tin Htntrk. Tliat nnnoiinconiont wns riiiul*' v«tv rorontly 

 and marks a very ini|)«irtant advance in tlw rontrol motluMls «»f ih\' 

 woovil and hriiifjs up a iinriilMTof (|U(>stioii.s wliidi iiood to b<» invosti- 

 ;;at«Ml with a ;,'rcat dral of ran*, rndoiihtrdly a vrrv imporfant 

 advance has l)i'('n nnnh' in lliat wttrk. hul (hen- hav<' hccri points 

 rarsod by the author of the hwlh'tin hirnsolf about tht* apjjhcabibtv 

 of it to other conditions. 



Mr. Andkuson'. What is this new f)ro|)osition ? I did noi -re ihe 

 buUetin. I <;ot a cinidar on it. but I (bd not p>t th<' bulletin. 



Doctor ih'NTKR. In brief, it is simply this: Pbmt the cotton about 

 the ordinary time, and <b) nolhinfj t<t\vard the control of the boll 

 W(>evil until about the ")th of .Iuiu\ under Flori<la conditions, wlietf all 

 of the weevils that have j)assotl throu<^h the winter have einerj;efi 

 and made their way to the fields. During the weeks immediately 

 precediufj the oth of June tlu' vast majority of those hibertuitinf^ 

 weevils will die; that is the natural course shown by a very large 

 numl)er of observations which have been made. C-onse(pientlv, 

 about the .Ith of June there will bo a very small number of weevils 

 in the fields, and tlios(> that are there will be (lyin<; rapidly. Some 

 will be denositinj; their eggs. At this low ebb in the renroduction of 

 the weevil all such weevils as are in the plants at tliat time are 

 picked off by hand, and the fruit on the cotton plant is also removed. 



Mr. Bi( HANAX. All of it ( 



Doctor IIiNTKK. All of the fruit, getting the remaining hibernateil 

 weevils, those that have come over from last year and cutting off the 

 brood for ne.xt year for that season by picking the progeny, eggs or 

 grubs in the squares. The third step is to apply a poison to the 

 plants immediately after they have been stripped of the fruit, the 

 idea there being to get such straggling weevils as have missed the 

 process of hand picking. 



Mr. A\I)p:kson. Do the fruits set again after being picked off these 

 cotton plants i 



Doctor HuNTEU. Yes. The process in Florida shows that this plan 

 of strippin*:^ the plants has a remarkable effect in accelerating the 

 process t)f fruiting a little later. 



Mr. Buchanan. That would depend on the character of land. It 

 might facilitate its going to stalks. On some lands it would be very 

 injurious — on rich lands. 



Doctor Ball. This new method has been very successful .under the 

 Florida conditions, tliat is, conditions in which they raise a relatively 

 small amount of cotton per acre. On account of the low cost this is a 

 method that appeared to be peculiarly adapted to areas that have 

 smaller production. 



Mr. Anderson. I think it would be somewhat expensive to go 

 around. and pick off the bugs and fruit. 



Doctor Howard. It costs about $\.')0 an acre. 



Mr. BrciLvxAX. The reason that is not so expensive is that a cotton 

 plant about that high (illustrating) will have 1 or 2 squares of fruit 

 on a stalk and a ])erson <'an go along with a sack and pick them off. 



Doctor HrxTER. One hand picks easily over an acre a day. 



Mr. BrciiAXAX. Oh, yes. 'I here would only be 1 or 2 squares on a 

 stalk. They do not look at these squares to see whether there are 

 bugs on them, but just pick off anything in the scjuares. These 

 squares are supposed to have bc(>n punctured by the weevils which 



