Burgaw, July 9—C.M. James, county agent for Pender county, has just completed a boll weevil survey of the county.
He states that he found the boll weevil in every section of the county.
Mr. James states that he does not try to find the grown weevils now, as the cotton has started putting on squares and the old weevils are too hard to find.
The old weevils, which survived the winter, have punctured many squares and deposited their eggs. The eggs have developed into the worm stage. It is very easy to find the weevil in the worm stage. All one has to do is to pick up the squares which have fallen to the ground, tear them open and the worm is easily seen, as it has usually eaten out the interior of the square.
Some of the worms have developed to the butterfly stage and in this stage the snout has formed, the legs and wings have appeared, and the shape of the weevil can be seen. The worm is white with a brown head; the butterfly is pure white. The grown weevil is brown.
Mr. James states that any farmer can tell whether or not weevils are in his cotton. All he has to do is to pick up the cotton squares which have fallen to the ground and tear them open. If the weevils are in his cotton, he will find the worms.
The old weevils which went through the winter do not lay a large number of eggs, probably not more than 10 each.
The first generation is now developing into grown weevils, these will lay an average of 150 to each female—in other words each female which is being hatched now will probably puncture 140 squares and thus destroy 150 bolls of cotton.
Mr. James is advising the farmer of Pender county to begin now to pick up and burn the squares after being punctured just turn yellow and hand on the stalk; get these too.
This is not such a job if one starts in time. The object is to prevent these young weevils hatching out and beginning to lay.
The picking up and destroying punctured squares, if done in time and thoroughly done, is 60 per cent of the direct fight on the weevils.
It is late now to start to secure the dusting machines and Calcium Arsenate; however, any farmer can pick up and destroy the punctured squares and this should be done even if the dusting is done.
Do not let the weevils in the punctured squares come out and lay. If only a few punctured squares are found in a field, this should be a matter of encouragement, and the farmer should then renew his effort to keep down the hatching of the new crop of weevils.
The rainy weather is favorable for the boll weevil. A drought would be acceptable to the cotton farmer now as many of the weevils in the worm stage would never reach maturity; the hot, dry weather would destroy them.
The authorities are agreed that the growing of cotton in the low counties of eastern North Carolina is a very risky business under boll weevil conditions. As cotton is bringing a good price, the farmers should do everything possible to save the crop which has been planted.
From The Wilmington Morning Star, Monday, July 10, 1922
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