DISCUSSION OF BOLL WEEVIL. 138 



made the experiment previously, and believed that it would be worth 

 several thousand dollars. 



Mr. Newell said that on a small farm, practically continuous with 

 surrounding cotton areas, the destruction of the cotton plants in the 

 fall is not likely to result in a great amount of good, unless the plants 

 on adjacent farms are destroyed as well. 



Upon large plantations of several hundred acres or more, and 

 upon small farms which are isolated from neighboring cotton fields 

 by a mile or more of fields not in cotton, or a half mile or more of 

 forest, fall destruction of the plants will undoubtedly pay, even if 

 other farmers in the community do not adopt the plan. In obser- 

 vations carried on in 1905 in an area in Sabine Parish, La., where no 

 cotton was grown in 1904, it was found that the weevils did not reach 

 the center of the area — a distance of 3 or 4 miles — until three to 

 four weeks after they had appeared in the cotton fields outside 

 this area where they hibernated. Delay in reaching any given cot- 

 ton field in the spring means, of course, a corresponding postponement 

 of the date at which maximum infestation will occur in that field, 

 and opportunity for the plants to mature additional fruitage is 

 afforded. 



There is, of course, no doubt that full cooperation on the part of 

 all farmers, in this autumn destruction of cotton plants, is necessary 

 to secure the maximum benefit therefrom. An experiment or dem- 

 onstration over a large area, for the purpose of showing the public 

 just what can be accomplished by the fall destruction of plants, 

 is most desirable, but owing to the fact that the farmers in this area 

 would have to be compensated at a rate satisfactory to them rather 

 than at a rate really commensurate with the labor required, the ex- 

 periment would doubtless cost several thousand dollars. It is also 

 doubtful if all of the farmers in an area, as large as a township, for 

 example, could be induced to cooperate in a demonstration of this 

 kind. Without full cooperation of all the farmers in such an area 

 the experiment would fall far short of giving satisfactory results. 



Mr. Flynn said that one of the main reasons why the destruction 

 of the stalks is not practiced in Louisiana is that not more than one- 

 half of the cotton on the large plantations is picked by November 15. 

 This condition is due principally to the scarcity of cotton pickers at 

 that season. 



Mr. Webster stated that in 1904 he had predicted the advancement 

 of the boll weevil into Louisiana, and these predictions had proven 

 approximately correct, though he was inclined to believe that but 

 for the influence of the Galveston hurricane the lines shown by Mr. 

 Newell might have been slightly modified, as this certainly drove the 

 insect to the northward in Texas. 



