98 PLANT-BUGS INJUKIOUS TO COTTON BOLLS. 



found that this insect can be controlled satisfactorily by destroying 

 by hand whenever incipient colonies are found. From the time 

 that the first bolls set until the cotton is picked a cotton grower should 

 keep a close watch for the appearance of the pest and destroy the 

 colonies whenever discovered. Weeds of all kinds and particularly 

 the Spanish cocklebur should either not be permitted to grow in the 

 vicinity of cotton fields or be kept under close surveillance in order 

 that they may be promptly destroyed if the necessity arises. 



METHODS OF CONTROL FOR GENERAL APPLICATION. 

 FARM PRACTICE AND CULTURAL METHODS. 



In this country a single species of the plant-bugs dealt with in 

 the foregoing pages rarely demands special treatment, while the 

 combined attack of several, each occurring in moderate numbers, 

 is often of vital importance in the determination of profit or loss to 

 the cotton grower, and for this reason control methods which are 

 generally effective against the various species are of great usefulness. 



The cotton boll weevil is gradually revolutionizing the cotton- 

 growing industry in the South, and in addition to making necessary 

 certain modifications of the time-honored methods of cotton produc- 

 tion, designed to avoid weevil damage as far as possible, has brought 

 into prominence the several minor cotton pests which now demand 

 intelligent attention. Fortunate^ the cultural methods for the 

 control of the weevil, designed and tested on a broad scale in the 

 course of the investigations of the Bureau of Entomology, and after- 

 wards administered, and to some extent modified in the light of sub- 

 sequent work by the Bureau of Plant Industry, are also, in part, of 

 importance in the control of many minor cotton pests, including 

 plant-bugs. 



In general, the plant-bugs which attack cotton bolls in the Southern 

 States attain their greatest abundance in August and September, 

 and consequently the earliest maturing cotton suffers the least. 

 The problem of producing an early maturing cotton crop has been 

 one of the more important subjects of investigation in connection 

 with the study of the control methods for use against the boll weevil. 

 This has been considered from an entomological standpoint and put 

 into the form of definite practical recommendations by Mr. W. D. 

 Hunter, in Farmers' Bulletins " and in circulars deahng \vith the boll 

 weevil. Of more importance in the control of the weevil is the 

 destruction in the fall of cotton plants in the field. This practice 

 is, of course, particularly effective as a measure against the boll 

 weevil, which has no other food plant than cotton, but many plant- 



a Farmers' Bulletins 163, 189, 216, and 344, U. S. Dept. Agriculture. 



