146 FARM FRIENDS AND FARM FOES 



brood of larvae. There are several broods during the sea- 

 son, the larvae being able in the hot weather of midsummer 

 to become full grown, so far as the larval stage alone is 

 concerned, in one week. The later broods develop within 

 the cotton bolls and thus cause a vast amount of damage. 



The Boll Weevils continue to multiply through the fall 

 upon any plants that are still present in the fields, and those 

 which hibernate most successfully are the ones that develop 

 latest in the season. Consequently, as a result of many 

 careful observations and experiments, it is pretty certainly 

 established that the most effective practical, remedy for the 

 insect is to pull up and burn all the cotton plants present 

 in the fields in autumn. This may usually be done by cut- 

 ting off the roots with a plow and then at once gathering 

 the plants by hand and piling them in windrows where they 

 will rapidly dry out, and in about two weeks may be burned. 

 The addition of a little crude oil is sometimes desirable to 

 insure the complete destruction of all the stalks. In an in- 

 teresting experiment conducted by the Department of Agri- 

 culture, an isolated cotton-growing region of about four hun- 

 dred acres was thus treated in autumn, with the result that 

 the beetles were nearly all destroyed and the following season 

 the amount of damage done by them was insignificant. 



Fall plowing is often a desirable procedure in cotton 

 culture whether the Boll Weevils are present or not, and so 

 it seems that this pest, like so many others, will bring about 

 an improvement in agricultural methods. 



OBSERVATIONS FOR PUPILS 

 Plum Curculio 

 A 

 I . Pick up some green plums from beneath the trees. Can you find any 

 of the crescent-shaped marks where the Curculios have laid their 



