/ 



HIBEKNATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF BOLL WEEVIL. 23 



benefit to be thus derived, but in the case of plats burned over in the 

 fall of 1903 we found there were far fewer weevils in 1904 than in 

 fields where the stalks had been left. 



On October 23 and 25 the stalks on our experimental plats, covering 

 about 30 acres, were cut with a single cutter made of a V-shaped sled, 

 with knives projecting out and backward on either side about a foot 

 beyond the rows. A team draws the cutter with a man on it, cutting 

 2 rows at once and about 15 acres per day. The stalks were then 

 raked and piled, and were dry enough to burn in a week. On one- 

 half the field 2 rows in ev^ery 20 were left standing as trap rows. No 

 weevils were found later on the dried piles, but they had assembled in 

 large numbers on the standing trap rows. Thirty-six were found on 

 four plants. These trap rows were then cut, left over night on the 

 ground, raked the next morning, and placed on the dried piles. That 

 afternoon examination by the writer showed that on the green stalks 

 on the dried piles there was an average of 1 weevil to every square 

 and boll, often 5 or 6 being found on a square. The torch was then 

 applied and the piles quickly burned. After this many weevils were 

 found on the shoots growing out from the stumpage and an occasional 

 stalk that was left. (This might be obviated more completely by 

 plowing out the stalks.) A herd of cattle was therefore turned into 

 the field and all herbage was devoured in a very few daj^s. A better 

 destruction could hardly be desired, and but little extra labor and 

 expense was involved. 



At the apiary a small plat containing two-thirds of an acre was left 

 with the stalks standing all winter. This plat was surrounded by a 

 grove and was half a mile from other cotton. 



Observations by the writer show that in 1904 upon the 30 acres 

 upon which the stalks were burned there appeared of the hibernated 

 brood during the spring but 1.2 weevils to 100 stalks, while on the 

 apiary plat where the stalks had been left there were about 4 weevils 

 to 100 stalks, or over three times as many hibernated successfully 

 where stalks remained standing as where they were destro3^ed. ' 



Again, on July 13 the field where stalks were burned averaged 3.3 

 weevils to 100 stalks, while fields of Messrs. Boyett and Gray, just 

 over the railroad, not 100 yards distant, where the stalks had not been 

 burned, tho other conditions were practically similar, had 6 and 12 

 weevils to 100 stalks, respectively, or an average of three times as 

 many weevils as on the field where stalks were burned. 



Were all conditions exactly the same, as regards culture, land, etc., 

 and were it possible to prevent the migration of the weevils from 

 neighboring fields to those where the stalks had been burned, the lat- 

 ter would undoubtedl}?^ show a much greater yield at the end of ^the 

 season, but as it is very rarely possible to eliminate these factors the 



