11 4 CROP PEST COMMISSION OF 



A ''hibernation experiment" with the boll weevil, at present 

 ninder way, is perhaps the largest experiment that has ever been 

 undertaken in * ' breeding cages. ' ' In the neighborhood of 30,000 

 .-adult boll weevils are being used in the experiment, distributed 

 among 18 cages, each of which occupies 160 square feet of 

 ground and has a height of about 8 feet. These cages contain hi 

 "bernating quarters, offering varying degrees of protection from 

 rain and cold, simulating as near as possible the different condi- 

 tions which obtain upon the average Louisiana plantation. 



The object of the experiment is, of course, to determine the 

 per cent of weevils which survive under different conditions for 

 hibernation and when forced to subsist for varying intervals 

 without food before entering hibernating quarters in the fall. In 

 ^addition to this, we expect to determine next spring, the date 

 ;and temperature at which the first hibernating adults emerge 

 from winter quarters, the time at which the bulk of hibernated 

 weevils emerge and the date at which the last individuals leave 

 hibernation. An accurate knowledge of all the points involved 

 is of the utmost importance in securing the maximum results in 

 employing the cultural remedy. 



The experience of past years with various injurious insects 

 in this and other countries has shown that successful remedies 

 for insect pests cannot be devised or applied, except in rare in- 

 stances, without accurate knowledge of an insect's habits and dif 

 ferent stages of development being first obtained. In the case of 

 the boll weevil, this necessary knowledge is already at hand for 

 it ; habits and periods of development, at different seasons of the 

 .year, have been carefully studied, not only by the entomologists 

 of the United States Department of Agriculture, but also by the 

 < ntomologists employed for the purpose in Mexico, Texas and 

 Louisiana. All of this accumulated knowledge concerning the 

 insect shows conclusively that the only successful and practical 

 remedy for the boll weevil is the cultural remedy, including the 

 use of quick-maturing varieties of cotton, early planting, thor- 

 ough cultivation, and especially the early fall destruction of the 

 cotton plants, this latter measure actually destroying the bulk of 

 the weevils. 



The "boll weevil problem" is very similar to many other in- 

 sect problems which in the beginning appeared almost impossible 



