Department of Agriculture 25 



vorable factor in such tests, however, has been the location of 

 the mopped plats in such a way that they would suffer from 

 migratory weevils to a much greater extent than would have 

 been the case had the entire acreage been mopped. 



Early Fall Destruction of the Cotton Plants 



Early fall destruction of the cotton plants as a means of 

 reducing the following year's supply of weevils has been rec- 

 ommended almost from the time the boll weevil entered the 

 United States. For one reason or another, it has never been 

 practiced extensively. Florida conditions are such, however, 

 that more benefit can be derived from early stalk destruction 

 than in most parts of the Belt. Even in the northern part of 

 Florida, cotton can be planted and gathered earlier than in 

 most parts of the Cotton Belt. This, in conjunction with the 

 late fall often experienced, makes it practicable to force the 

 weevil to live through a month or more of warm weather with- 

 out "food before entering winter quarters. If early fall de- 

 struction of the cotton stalks was practiced in Florida very 

 few weevils would survive to attack the next year's crop, and 

 those surviving would emerge from hibernation comparatively 

 early in the summer, making it unnecessary to poison more 

 than three times to completely eliminate them. 



In the more southern part of the Sea Island producing area 

 of Florida, conditions are even more favorable for controlling 

 the weevil by early fall destruction than in the northern part 

 of the State. The earlier plantings possible there, in connec- 

 tion with the warmer and later falls, make it feasible to force 

 the weevil to go through a still longer warm period without 

 food before entering winter quarters than is possible in the 

 northern part of the State. Were full advantage taken of this 

 fact, it is doubtful if any poisoning at all would have to be 

 resorted to even as far north as Ocala. In regions as far south 

 as Tampa or Melbourne it is a virtual certainty that early 

 stalk destruction alone would so reduce weevil numbers as to 

 permit the production of a full crop of cotton the following 

 year without the use of poison. 



Not only is it true that the farther south cotton is planted 

 in Florida the more benefit will be derived from early stalk 

 destruction, but the converse is true, that is, the grower will 

 be penalized for not destroying stalks as early as feasible. Live 

 upland cotton has been found around Gainesville in January, 

 and sometimes it occurs throughout the winter. Sea Island 

 cotton tends to sprout during warm weather unless a very 

 severe freeze has occurred, so possibly from Gainesville south, 



