Dearborn independent. [volume], October 08, 1921, Page 3, Image 3

About Dearborn independent. [volume] (Dearborn, Mich.) 1901-1927

Image provided by: Central Michigan University, Clark Historical Library

                
The Champion of A 11 Destructive Insects
A 11. "ure cotton holl that ha been attacked
by the weevil.
THE Aofl destructive intccl m America, who would
hare eaten the dry goods you buy, the clothes you
wear, the very shirt from your back if he had
got around to it, is now busily engaged in consun
m another $500,000,000 worth of farm crops in tin
n ithern states. The house fly, the mosquito, the fruit
i,(t borer, the wheat held chinch bug all of them musi
take a back scat when this persistent pest of Dixi
Iteps forward. He is the champion of 'em all. For
dollar-and-cents destruction it is doubtful if the rec
ords he is making can be duplicated in the whole his
tory of agricultural pests. He out-armies the army
worm, and the
Kansas Lirass
hopper is i
mere fl ish in
the pan com
pared w i t h
him.
Ik- is the
cotton boll
weevil.
Since that
day back in
the early 90s
there i
some doubt a
to just the ex
a c t y ear
w h e n h e
w i nge d his
flight through
A m eric aS
b a c k don r
from acr)s
the Rio Grande somewhere near Brownsville, Texas, he
has swept Dixie until today there IS not a section that
has not felt nor feared him.
Poisons of all kinds and descriptions; traps, nets,
tire even the gas cloud that were used in sweeping
the battlefields of France have failed to hold him in
check.
On the most conservative estimates he has already
eaten, since visiting the United States, something more
than KMX 10,000 baK s of cotton. A bale of cotton weigh 5
500 pounds. Ten cents a pound is a moderate valuation.
And the $500,000,000 appetite is merely whetted. This
half billion dollar loss to southern agriculture does
not take into consideration the hundreds of acres of
lands that were deserted nor the lo.ss incident to re
duced acreage or altered farming
systems.
In the last six years, with COt
ton prices higher than since the
Chril War, and with the Allies
urging the growing of greater and
mater cotton crops with every
inducement for the greatest pr
dUcttOd of cotton humanly pos
sible -the growers in the southern
itates were unable to exceed a
12,000,000-bale a year average.
The boll weevil damage nullified
their efforts.
What is the boll weevil? Where
did he come from and when and
how? What does he do to cot
ton ? Why hasn't he been stopped ?
These are familiar Questions
from the northern man when he
first visits the cotton states, espe
ciallv if his visit is in the grow
ing season, when weather and
Meevtl share equally in the anxiety of the farn
Kntomologists have been studying the boll weevil
for years and have experimented constantly with means
of eradicating him; the United States Department of
Agriculture, state governments and private inter
have Spent thousands upon thousand- of dollars in
carrying on the investigations and experiments, an 1
Some of the most brilliant entomologists have been en
listed in the work, hut the doom of tli weevil is no;
yet sealed. He is scattered over a wider area and his
clan numbers more by billions today than ever before,
and the weapon to stop him is yet to be devised.
Progress, however, in holding him in check a few
weeks during the most active part of his career, has
been made, but since the new method is scarcely more
than two years old it is yet far from th
Derfection that undoubtedly is to be expected
At present it is a system of poisoning which
aims only to interrupt the weevil long enough
for the cotton to mature to a point where
but little damage can be done to it
The cotton boll weevil belong to the
beetle family. An adult is less than a quar
ter of an inch long, including his remarkable
inout, and about a third as wide as tt il
long, It has a grayish-green color which
Krows darker as the auSilt ages. Some au
thorities say there are more than 25,000
ipeciea, with as many characteristics md
habits which closely resemble it. causing !
lief in many cotton sections in the early day
of infestation that the boll weevil had com .
When it really was a related specie that ha l
been found. The cotton weevil is distm
unishf'fl r. hv the tibiae ot
. I I VMil 11.1 I XI J
the first pair of legs, which have two small
spines.
The attack on cotton is made by the
female weevil, which punctures the buds o the mam
with her long, strong snout. An egg IS deposited
We bud and from it a worm hatches, and it is this m
!ut that does the damage. It feeds on the tender m
Itrsor of the bud, or "square," as it is known, and in-
By G. E. COLLINS
de-
stead
in
Of hi.
nmimr. th had i"al1v t, tti.. A
vv, l.iv. IVJllllVl
nie season t ie teni.-i , ntt-.,-L-. k.
uun.n.i lliv w
. I I I I 1 TMi' r I , I I 1 .1 im
wiwiua aim irom unicn tin tleecv
comes, i he boll seldom drops but
nnes maturing and bursting hut instead
hand till ot Snowy white cotton fiber, there is but
pinch oi ragged, curled, worthl
any use
It has been estimated that one pair of weevils will
iinuliw.. 1 'iiihiiuui Ctm-: 1 r,
Late
which forms
the tleecv cotton
withers away, sorm -
of the
a
ess cotton unfit for
cent of these immature stages have been found
stroyed through the agency of the ants alone
The truly great accomplishment in heading off weevil
losses has come since 1919. It is the use of calcium
arsenate poison. It is the one outstanding and reallv
inc omi- nieniod ot tiuntnn
mem I . perts will
results.
c alcnun
hting the weevil that the oovim.
say is bringing actual anal paying
le
can
period of
ordinarily.
life seldom is
es
f
do
per
is hot and drv
le winter, emerj
new generations
(irub. or weevil worm, which does the
damage to cotton.
in a single season. Trn
more than six months and
is much less if thr weather is h
Late generations hibcrna'c during th
ing in the Spring to start hordes of
Severe frosts and cold weather
more to kill the weevil than
naps any other natural or arti
ficial agency, although severe heat
also is a dire enemy.
Under normal conditions the
worm or grub will hatch from
the egg in three days. The grub
immediately begins feeding. In
a week it passe into the pupa
Stage similar to the cocoon of but
terflies. In three to five days the
adult weevil, or beetle. issues.
Thus in tWO or three weeks there
is a new generation.
The hibernating adults begin
to appear with the first warm
days of spring, some as early as
February. By the last of June
they are all out. First feeding
is on the tender foliage of the
young cotton plants. In badlv
infested fields it often appears
that the plants are a.ive with weevil by the time
the first flowers appear. The period of hiberna
tion is an excellent time to exert control work.
Winter quarters may be leaves, grass, the old cotton
stalks, nearby woods, litter, and so on. Destruction
of these and late autumn and early spring plow
ing are methods now urged on farmers by the in
stigators. Rotation of crops, selection of fields of
fering fewest hiding places and other such precautions
are essential, they sav.
Implements for shaking the
cotton stalks have been tried, both
to dislodge the weevil and to
loosen the infested buds, but
less the sun's rays reach
ground and the weather
and hot. the death rate is
as to be negligible.
The use of strong lights at
night has been tried, but Mr.
Weevil, unlike many of his kith
and kin. has no time for the
Great White Way. In one gov
eminent experiment more than
24,900 specimens of insects were
captured in a weevil-infested field
but there was not one weevil
in the number.
While dozens upon dozens of
"cures" have been submitted to
thr field men in charge of the in
vestigations in the southern states,
and practically all have been pronounced of no value,
the Bureau of Entomology takes an interest in each
new proposal. A special laboratory is maintained at
Tallulah, Louisiana, and no weevil question, problem,
device or cure, however far-fetched and absurd, is per
mitted to slip past without some sort of a practical
test or experiment.
Nature herself thus far has done more than man.
for all his shrewdness, in holding the weevil in check,
se verely hot and severely cold weather are merciless
enemies. Were it not for these and other natural
enemies, cotton production in the United States would
be an absolute impossibility by this time.
No less than 45 insect enemies of the weevil, nearly
half of them parasites, are helping hold the pest in
arsenate dusi ii umv
e . i . . m . . - . -
lecieo cotton fields at certain
tervals. not to eradicate tin
in check until the cotton
This system has been develop. 1
ine enorts ot p. K Load and
in uic soiunern new crop msec! investigations of the
Bureau of Entomology. They sai frankh
"It should be underst"
cut system of boll
in clouds (n in-
period. and certain bl
ue- il but to hold him
mature its fruit.
very largely through
I) .. 1-
v-i--my. experts
T. I
too
A mature cotton boll weevil,
(considerably enlarged).
IS
SO
U11-
the
dry
low
sLaaBaBsk
fforoe -drawn poion
d0in( ...chin, in cot.on Held inl..J with vil.
check. Mr foam ai.io. Oblong
"""'Vs ' s!"'''Vl -i uv ,mV n the miMUturc U
have been identified, ineyprej .
of .ho weevil " the cotton du . . wecvi, tj(Jc.
. : . : - krnia 11 si
invesugaiioiis iw
d at the outset that the nres-
weevil poisoning is nol intended to
eradicate the wtevil. It is purely
a percentage proposition, and the
best that can be hoped under the
. present methods of operation is
"""to reduce the weevils sufficient! v
to permit the maturing of a full
crop of cotton."
The poisoning is done by
spraying clouds of the dust over
and through the plants by both
hand "guns' and machine or
power dusters. At present most
of the dusting is done at night,
when the plants are moist and
when the air is calm, so that full
benefit is obtained of all the
poison.
Specificat ions of the prepara
tion as now developed provide for
not less than 40 per cent arsenic
pentoxide; not less than 0.75 per
cent water soluble arsenic pen
toxide, with a density of not less
than M) nor more than 100 cubic inches a pound.
Quite a number of manufacturers now are turning
out the poison and the dusting machines, but owing
to the many uncertainties because of the newness of
the system, farmers are being urged to avail themselves
of the free analysis offered at the government labora
tory at Tallulah. before they start poisoning work.
Properly made, the preparation does not injure the
plants, nor is it injurious to man or animal, although
excessive contact with the dust should be avoided, the
experts say.
Five to seven pounds of the poison to each acre of
ground at each application is advised. The work should
start, it is suggested, when fields are IS to 20 per cent
infected, or when the first squares begin falling. Ap-plication
h o u 1 d be
made at four
day intervals
until three or
four have
been complet
ed, or until
the bolls are
well enough
developed to
I scape injury,
else kept up
to prevent
more than 30
per cent in
festation. The
cost of poi
son i n g this
year is esti
mated at from
$6 to MO an
acre, but more
efficient methods of manufacture ot both poison and
implements is expected to reduce these figures ma
terially. For all hi destructiveness and m spite ot his
enormous appetite, the cotton boll weevil is not with
out his good points. In some portions of the cotton
belt he has forced the farmers to pay less attention
to cotton and more to the growing of general farm
crops, a thing for which the South's leading mnul
have been working for years. The one-crop
svstem. they have said time after time, is
ruinous. atc v arming nas uccn & win,
cry in Dixie for fully 15 years, but it re
mained for the boll weevil to force the issue
in manv sections. Farms that had grown
nothing but cotton were forced to grow
corn, hay. live stock and other feeds and
foods.
In one Alabama cotton city a monument
was erected to the b oil weevil recently. The
fanners of that community abandoned an
all-cotton farming system because of weevil
damage and they were SO elated with the
safe farming system that I fund was raised,
a monument executed, and it was erected in
a conspicuous place in the town.
What the future will bring and what the
developments will mean to the cotton pro
ducing states in the way of changed meth-
nf o-rnwimr rottOll aild ttl tllC agHcill-
ture of the region is I matter of speculation.
Breeding and crossbreeding to develop early
maturing varieties of cotton that will get ahead of the
weevil already is well advanced miner tne rawcrmy wi
i
Boll Weevil attacking a cotton boll iuat
before the boll matures.
the Bureau of Plant Industry. Old methods are giving
awav in favor of methods that will aid in stemming