COTTON" OR WEEVILS 9 



There is a certain period in the summer, usually about the middle 

 of August, when the weevils become restless and seem to have an 

 instinct to fly away. They seem to want to leave the cotton fields 

 where they have been living and go to other fields where they can 

 live more easily. As long as there are fields of cotton free from 

 weevils anywhere near by, the weevils are sure to fly in that direction. 



The only thing that will stop the progress of the weevils across the 

 country is a lack of fresh cotton fields or a very dry climate. Weevils 

 do not breed fast when it is dry and hot and do very little damage 

 at that time ; they need a warm, moist climate. Thus in eastern Texas, 

 where the summers are cooler and more moist, they infest all of the 

 cotton territory, but in western Texas they have done very little 

 damage because there the summers are very hot and very dry. The 

 boll weevil can be found to-day in nearly every part of our cotton- 

 producing area; it is also found in Mexico, Central America, and 

 Cuba. 



HOW TO CONTROL THE WEEVIL SO AS TO PROTECT OUR COTTON 



We know now that the cotton-boll weevil is thoroughly bad and 

 that it does an immense amount of damage to our cotton. There can 

 be no question about this. Now, what is the best and easiest way to 

 get rid of these weevils ? How can we protect our cotton from these 

 pests ? 



For the past 35 years many men have been trying to answer this 

 question. A few of them have found out what we should do. Some 

 of the wisest of these men have come to the conclusion that " we can 

 not get rid of the boll weevil, but we can control it sufficiently to 

 permit good crops of cotton to be raised." This is a help, even if 

 we can not destroy every weevil there is. It is best to learn what 

 they advise and to follow their directions if we possibly can. 



When we come to study how we may get rid of the weevils, we 

 find that nature helps us, although this help is not enough to destroy 

 every weevil. It has been estimated that the possible children, 

 grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great-grandchildren 

 of a single pair of weevils born in one season could amount to 

 several million weevils if nothing happened to them. But some- 

 thing does happen to a great many of them. If this something did 

 not happen to them in a natural way, and if every one of them 

 grew it would be impossible for us to raise a bale of cotton in our 

 country, no matter what we did personally. 



Some kinds of climate will kill off the young weevils very fast. 

 Often flower buds with the baby weevils in them fall to the ground 

 and become so heated by the direct rays of the sun that the little 

 creatures inside die in a short space of time. Too much dry heat is 

 bad for the baby weevil, and this is the reason a cotton farmer likes 

 a hot, dry summer ; it gives his cotton a chance to grow. 



There are certain insects whose young like to eat the soft weevil 

 grubs. These tiny wasplike insects lay their eggs in the bodies of 

 the boll-weevil grubs. The eggs hatch into very small grubs which 

 feed on the boll weevils and kill them. Sometimes as many as 

 half of the baby boll weevils in a cotton field are killed in this way, 

 while in other fields very few or none seem to be killed. 



