UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 





I BULLETIN No. 564 



Contribution from Bureau of Entomology 

 L. O. HOWARD, Chief 



Washington, D. C. 



PROFESSIONAL PAPER 



October 4, 1917 



COLLECTION OF WEEVILS AND INFESTED SQUARES AS A 

 MEANS OF CONTROL OF THE COTTON-BOLL WEEVIL IN 

 THE MISSISSIPPI DELTA. 



By B. R. Coad and T. F. McGehee, Entomological Assistants, Southern Field Crop 



Insect Investigations. 



CONTENTS. 



General statement of experiments conducted . 1 



Brief review of 1915 experiments 2 



Lines of investigation in 1916 3 



Time interval between bag-and-hoop collec- 

 tions in relation to proportion of infested 



forms secured 3 



Plat tests of the value of the bag-and-hoop as 

 a means of weevil control under field con- 

 ditions 18 



Experiment on Hecla Plantation 18 



Eureka Plantation experiment number 1 27 



Studies on the value of a mechanical collector 



of boll weevils 37 



Plat test 38 



Comparative efficiency studies 41 



General considerations and summary 42 



GENERAL STATEMENT OF EXPERIMENTS CONDUCTED. 



During the cotton-growing seasons of 1915 and 1916 the writers 

 conducted a series of studies to ascertain the value of various meth- 

 ods of collecting boll weevils and infested cotton forms as a means 

 of control for the cotton-boll weevil. The experimental work was 

 conducted in the vicinity of Tallulah, La., while more or less ex- 

 tensive observations were made at various points throughout Lou- 

 isiana and Mississippi. The following studies apply most directly 

 to the conditions existing in what is termed the "Delta" of Louisiana 

 and Mississippi, but are also undoubtedly applicable to other por- 

 tions of the cotton belt where a severe weevil infestation prevails. 



In July, 1916, the senior writer published a preliminary report on 

 the results of the 1915 studies x in order to place the information 

 secured in a form available for use by the planters. 



Note.— This bulletin will be of interest to entomologists and to cotton growers in the Delta region of 

 Louisiana. 



i Coad, B. R. Cotton-boll Weevil Control in the Mississippi Delta, with Special Reference to Square 

 Picking and Weevil Picking. U. S. Dept. Agr. Bui. 382, July 8, 1916. 

 96828°— Bull. 564—17 1 



