58 



PAPERS ON THE COTTON BOLL WEEVIL, ETC. 



REMEDIES. 



In addition to the usual gathering and destroying of fallen pepper 

 pods, cultural experiments were conducted in the following manner: 

 Some pods were buried in boxes under 1, 2, and 3 inches of soil 

 respectively, keeping one series dry and the other moist — conditions 

 which would result necessarily from irrigation. In the former series 

 the pods dried up and in the latter the pods rotted. 



Experiments to determine the effect upon the pepper weevil of covering fallen infested pods 



with soil. 



Num- 

 ber of 

 pods. 



Number 

 of punc- 

 tures. 



Depth 

 of soil. 



Condi- 

 tion of 

 soil. 



Period covered. 



Number of 



weevils 



emerging 



Oct.l9-Nov.4. 



Number of 

 weevils 



found dead 

 in soil 

 Nov. 17. 



25 



25 

 25 

 25 

 50 



62 



61 



56 



60 



115 



Inches. 



1 



1 

 2 

 2 

 3 



Wet .... 

 Drv 



Oct. 19-Nov. 14 . . . 

 do 



1 adult; 1 

 parasite. 



9 adults 



4 adultso ... 



3 adults 



15 adults.... 



6 adults. 



12 adults. 

 1 adult. 

 5 adults. 

 14 adults. 



Wet .. 



do 



Dry 



do... 



do... 



do 







a Three of these weevils died as soon as they came thru the soil. 



Thus it will be readilj T seen that the covering of the fallen pods every 

 two to three weeks with from 1 to 3 inches of soil would be advan- 

 tageous.. This could be arranged by bedding high and then lowering 

 the soil. Where irrigation is practised the decay of the pods is greatly 

 hastened, thus depriving the larvae of this food supply. It is only fair 

 to state that at the time the pods in these experiments were buried 

 most of the larva? were nearly full fed, consequently a larger number 

 came to maturity than would have been the case had burial occurred 

 while the larvae were small. Two other experiments were conducted 

 b} T Mr. W. W. Yothers in large cages in the open, with the following 

 results: 



Experiments to determine the effect upon the pepper weevil of covering fallen infested pods 



with soil. 



Number 

 of pods. 



Depth of 



soil. 



Condition 

 of soil. 



Date of 

 exami- 

 nation. 



Number 



of 

 weevils 

 emerged. 



Number of 

 weevils dead 

 in soil Nov. 15. 



500 

 450 



Inches. 

 3 



2 



Dry a 



Dry a 



Oct. 20 

 Oct. 28 



64 

 50 



None found. 

 Do. 



« Heavv rains October 24 and November 10. 



October 31 about 200 of the last-mentioned lot of pods were examined 

 and found to contain 73 living and 9 dead stages; of this number -17 

 were pupae and 15 were larvae. The latter necessarily would have 

 starved, owing to the rapid decay of the buried pods. 



