THE MEXICAN COTTON-BOLL WEEVIL 2/1 



Is done in order to deprive the weevils of their only food- 

 supply, to stop their increase, and to reduce the number of 

 hiding places in which they may spend the winter. The 

 best preparation for farmers to make for the coming of 

 the boll weevil is (i) to become accustomed to growing a 

 greater variety of crops and more live-stock, and (2) to 

 practice intensive cultivation of cotton, that is, to cultivate 

 fewer acres of cotton so thoroughly as to make them pro- 

 duce as many bales as were grown on the larger area. 

 The only safety lies in diversified farming and intensive 

 cotton culture. 



EXERCISE. Let those who live outside of the region already in- 

 vaded by the boll weevil try to estimate by the aid of the maps in some 

 geography, how many years will probably pass before the boll weevil 

 will reach their county, if it moves forward about fifty miles each year, 

 assuming that it starts eastward from the Mississippi River in 1908. 

 Do you think that farmers living near you realize that the boll weevil is 

 certainly coming? Are any of them making preparations for its com- 

 ing by raising a variety of farm products, live-stock, truck crops, fruit, 

 etc., and by raising cotton under the intensive system ? Ask your 

 parents what additional crops or live-stock, or live-stock products, could 

 be produced to advantage in your own neighborhood. 



