Department of Agriculture 23 



ity of a large acreage of unpoisoned upland cotton which 

 "breaks down" and forces an early migration, the situation 

 is a difficult one to deal with. Such weevil migrations, how- 

 ever, are not common in Florida. The first part of the sum- 

 mer migration in Florida, is usually comparatively light, and 

 can be suppressed by three or four "slingings" with the same 

 mixture used for mopping provided dry weather conditions 

 prevail. 



The term "slinging" is fairly descriptive of the operation it- 

 self. This method of poisoning was originated in Madison 

 County by one of the WPA assistants*, and has been used 

 successfully in that county for several years. 



A small mop is used, with a short, flexible handle. The 

 tip of the mop is saturated by being dipped in the mixture, 

 and, by a movement of the wrist and forearm, the mop is 

 swung in a part circle first to one side of the opei'ator, then 

 to the other, above the cotton plants, so the plants on several 

 rows to each side are sprinkled with droplets of the mixture. 

 A little practice is necessary to learn to perform this operation 

 effectively, but after it is learned, large cotton can be poisoned 

 very rapidly. The poison falls in droplets on the leaves, bolls, 

 squares and limbs, while, of course, some falls on the ground. 

 If a gallon and a half to two gallons of the poison mixture are 

 used per acre, the weevils are considerably reduced in num- 

 bers. An examination of the top bolls in both slung and un- 

 slung fields in Madison County in 1938, several weeks after 

 the summer migration had begun, showed that the immature 

 weevil forms in the top bolls of the unslung cotton were, on an 

 average, about two weeks older than those in the slung cotton. 

 In other words, the slinging method of midsummer poisoning 

 gave the plants an average of two weeks longer to produce 

 cotton. In the fields planted somewhat late, this was a con- 

 siderable help, as a large proportion of the crop was still in 

 the weevil damage susceptible stage when the summer migra- 

 tion began. Very likely the yield in some of the late planted 

 fields was increased fifty percent or more. In the early planted 

 fields, however, slinging did not materially increase the yield, 

 as most of the bolls were past the susceptible weevil-damaging 

 stage when the summer migration began. 



The above remarks should not be construed to mean that 

 poisoning the weevils by slinging will control any summer mi- 

 gration for a period of two weeks. Under some conditions, it 

 probably would not control migratory weevils two days, while 

 under some other conditions it probably would control them 



*C. L. Milford. 



