18 PAPERS OIT THE COTTON BOLL WEEVIL^ ETC. 



was made of logs, leaf rubbish, etc., in a ravine adjoining our cotton 

 field, but no weevils were found. On December 28 a similarly futile 

 search was made along Carters Creek, in which neighborhood a good 

 deal of cotton had been grown. On January 5, 1904:, a 30-acre cotton 

 field was thoroly examined, but no weevils w^ere found. Corn stubble 

 standing near a very badly infested field was also examined without 

 finding any Aveevils. Our information regarding the hibernating 

 places of the weevil is therefore more of a deduction based upon obser- 

 vations of the places in which they appear first in the spring than a 

 conclusion from actual observations. The observations by Mr. Con- 

 radi in the earl}^ winter probably indicate the normal places for hiber- 

 nation — that is, under dead leaves, in old cotton brush, and under 

 loose bark. In the hibernation cages, where the weevils were furnished 

 an abundance of rubbish, it was found that many of them which were 

 hibernating successfully had crawled into the cavities made b}^ borers 

 in dead wood and in similar positions where they were well protected. 

 It has been often noticed that in a wooded countrj^ the weevils appear 

 first in spring along the borders of fields next to the woods and gradu- 

 all}^ work inw^ard from the edges, so that it seems probable that in a 

 wooded country most of them hibernate in woodland. Around out- 

 buildings and barns also are found favorable places, as there is always 

 more or less rubbish and protection in such situations. In 1903 more 

 than five times as many weevils were found in a piece of cotton near 

 the college barn, where cotton had been grow^n the previous 3'ear, than 

 were found in any other locality in that neighborhood. It is also 

 noticeable that weevils are alwa3^s more numerous near gins than at a 

 distance from them. Undoubtedly, where much rubbish and grass are 

 present and wdiere the soil remains loose and is not packed by rains, 

 large numbers of the weevils winter in the cotton fields. The fact 

 that in 1903 an exceedingly small number of weevils survived on 

 Smith & Carson's plantation on the Brazos River must have been due 

 to their having hibernated in the field, large numbers having been 

 killed ofi' by the excessive rains and doubtless more by the flood of 

 February, 1903, which covered the fields to a depth of several inches 

 over a large part of the plantation. It was quite noticeable that few 

 weevils were found on Brazos bottom plantations in this section in 



1903. In all probabilit}- the flood would have had but little effect later 

 in the season after the weevils had emerged. 



It is noticeable that weevils are much more abundant where cotton 

 is planted in fields where sorghum stubble has been allowed to remain 

 all winter adjoining a last year's cotton field. Thus, in the spring of 



1904, the first weevils found on Smith & Carson's plantation were on a 

 cut of cotton along the Brazos River which had been in sorghum and 

 surrounded by cotton in 1902 and where several large sorghum stacks 

 stood thru the winter. Tho planted earl}^ and kept well cultivated, 



