8 BULLETIN" 382^ U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGEICULTTJEE. 



the application of these facts and figures to plantation conditions. 

 In the first place there is little or no picking on a day wage basis, but 

 it is practiced under the tenant system where no actual cash outlay 

 is required and the only expense of the operations is that incurred by 

 the detrimental effect produced on either the cotton or some other 

 crop because of taking the labor from its care and utilizing it in 

 these weevil control measures. Consequently, the question is just how 

 much the planter can afford to slight the other operations in order 

 to pick his squares or weevils. Studies on the increased yields 

 produced b}^ these control measures have shown that there is a 

 very definite advantage. However, very little neglect of the cultural 

 operations may produce a loss amply sufficient to more than offset 

 any benefit derived from the reduction of the weevil infestation. For 

 this reason it seems generally inadvisable to practice these control 

 measures except in the presence of an abundance of labor. 



Because of this complication Avith the labor supply the greatest 

 desideratmn at present is the perfection of a mechanical means of 

 weevil picking which will be as effective as the bag-and-hoop method 

 and still will allow the handling of a considerable number of acres 

 per day per hand. Several mechanical devices were tested in com- 

 parison with the bag-and-hoop and, while none of them was as 

 efficient as the latter method, one or two gave some promise of satis- 

 factory results with further improvements in their construction. It 

 should be stated that there are a number of serious problems to be 

 met by a mechanical picker, which make it still doubtful as to whether 

 a satisfactory one can be devised. In the first place the question of 

 interruption of operations by rainy weather is a serious problem. 

 A number of successive rainy days resulting in continually muddy 

 fields produces the best possible conditions for weevil multiplication 

 and thus necessitates even more strenuous efforts for control, but 

 the same conditions make it difficult to operate mechanical pickers 

 in the field. Such weather conditions are met with practically 

 every spring in the Delta. The necessity for drainage in this region 

 causes the cotton to be planted and worked on " ridges." This rais- 

 ing of the plants above the middle of the rows interferes seriously 

 with the operation of many mechanical pickers. In addition to 

 this, as long as the present system of laying off and planting rows is 

 followed there will always be more or less crooked rows and the dis- 

 tances between the rows will vary considerably. This condition 

 presents another obstacle to mechanical pickers, particularly those 

 taking two rows at a turn. Still another obstacle is the difficulty 

 in operating many of these machines in irregular, stumpy land such 

 as is found on some parts of almost every plantation in the Delta. 

 These fields are the ones which have been cleared only recently and 



