THE BLACK CORN-WEEVIL 67 



full of weevils by the time the main crop comes in. 

 It would be just like saying to the weevils, 'Here is 

 some more corn, help yourselves/ If they could, 

 they would smile all over and say, 'Mr. Sanders, 

 you are a gentleman.' You see you kept the weevils 

 off your main crop by planting the early corn ; now, 

 would it be wise to gather the early crop, give the 

 weevils a free ride to the crib, and then bring the 

 rest of the corn to them to save them the trouble of 

 flying to it? That would surely be treating the 

 weevils kindly." 



"Ho, ho, ho," many laughed. 



"Put your thinking cap on, George," several 

 exclaimed. 



The entomologist continued: "Select for your 

 seed-corn such ears as give a good yield and have 

 tight and close-fitting shucks. The ears should not 

 stand up straight, but hang down to prevent water 

 from entering the shucks during rains." 



Will Lane now interrupted the entomologist: "I 

 have studied about that myself and always thought 

 that the shucks had something to do with the 

 number of weevils, but I met Sam Faulkner in town 

 the other day and he said that he did not think 

 much of it. He said he had an army of corn ear- 

 worms in his corn last year and that the weevils 

 got into the shucks through the holes made by these 

 worms when they left the ears to go into the ground. 



