314 AGRICULTURAL APPROPRIATION BILL, 1924. 



We found them hibernating in the woods, under the moss and leaves, 

 when the temperature was 82° in the shade, at a time when they had 

 in the previous year caused serious damage. 



Doctor Howard. Isn't tliat oliaracteristic of tlie family^ 

 Mr. Graf. Most of the hitlyl)irds hibernate early, but they did not 

 do it in Birmingham the previous year. They changed their habits. 



PKOPOSED .\CTIVITIE8. 



Mr. A.NDKKSox. "VMiat arc you proposing to do next year? 



Mr. Graf. We arc proposing to continue tlie work, following it 

 noith a great deal more closely. We about concluded from our 

 insecticide tests on beans that it will be necessary to develop a sepa- 

 rate formula for beans in different latitudes. We think we can use 

 a stronger poison on beans in the Northeast than in the Southeast. 

 If that is possible, it will be easier to control. It is dangerous to 

 j)iit the arseiuite (m the plant in a high concentration: that is. high 

 enough to kill the insect —at the present time. We planiu'd to do 

 some work in the West, but it appears that part of the appropriation 

 is stricken out, so we can not carry that out. 



Mr. Anderson. What do you mean "in the West" ( 



Mr. Graf. In the Rocky Mountain regions. New Mexico, and Colo- 

 rado. The beans are a lower-priced crop there. Injury occurs over 

 a short period, and water is so scarce that they can not spray con- 

 veniently, and the wind is so hifjh that they can not dust. 



Mr. BrcHANAN. He got 3"ou there. 



Mr. Graf. He has, unless we can develop some mechanical control. 



Mr. AxDERSox. Go ahead in relation to that. 



Mr. Gi{AF. The main producing States of the North arc Michigan. 

 Wisconsin, New York, and New Jersey. New Jersey produces 

 mostly green beans; that is, beans for canning, and from the present 

 trend of infestation it threatens these and other States. The States 

 further west will be free a great deal longer than New York and the 

 rest of the States on the eastern seaboard. 



NEED FOR I\CKE.\SEr) AI-1'I!()1-KI ATIONS. 



Mr. AxDKHsox. If you had more money, what could you do with it ? 



Mr. Graf. We woidd start work in the West principally on a 

 mechanical control. Those people out there are fighting a hopeless 

 fight. They can not choose tlieir planting time. They have to 

 plant when the moisture is in the sod; they have to plant so as to 

 })(' sure of avoiding frosts. They have to phint in certain fertile 

 valle>s near the sunounding hills, which furnish hibernating quarters 

 for the insects. 



There is apparently no way they can avoid having a great deal of 

 insect dainatre. 



The crop value will average in New Mexico about $12 per acre over 

 the cost of production. That means that direct control with insec- 

 ticides is jiisl about out of the (juestion. We are trying to figuiv out 

 a Jiiechamcal contrivance to knock sonu' of the beetles off the plants 

 in the course of their cultivating the crop. They cultivate from two 

 to four tiines a season, and if we couhi reduce the beetles to some 

 extent, withoiif any extra expense, it might prove suflicient to save 



