174
Categories:
FARM CROPS
WITH EGG OF WEEVIL, AND SHOWING THE HOLE WHERE THE EGG WAS DEPOSITED
Greatly enlarged]
In from one to two weeks the grub or larva becomes fully grown and,
without changing its home, is transformed into the pupa state. Then in
about a week more the pupae come out as adult weevils and attack the
bolls. They puncture them with their snouts and lay their eggs in the
bolls. The young grubs, this time hatching
ut in the boll, remain there
until grown, when they emerge through holes that they make. These holes
allow dampness to enter and destroy the bolls. This life-round continues
until cold weather drives the insects to their winter quarters. By that
time they have increased so rapidly that there is often one for every
boll in the field.
INJURING A SQUARE]
This weevil is proving very hard to destroy. At present there seem but
few ways to fight it. One is to grow cotton that will mature too early
for the weevils to do it much harm. A second is to kill as many weevils
as possible by burning the homes that shelter them in winter.
Greatly enlarged]
The places best adapted for a winter home for the weevil are trash
piles, rubbish, driftwood, rotten wood, weeds, moss on trees, etc. A
further help, therefore, in destroying the weevil is to cut down and
burn all cotton-stalks as soon as the cotton is harvested.
AND BEARING THREE SPECIMENS OF THE INSECT]
SHOWING STRUCTURE]
This destroys countless numbers of larvae and pupae in the bolls and
greatly reduces the number of weevils. In addition, all cornstalks, all
trash, all large clumps of grass in neighboring fields, should be
burned, so as to destroy these winter homes of the weevil. Also avoid
planting cotton near trees. The bark, moss, and fallen leaves of the
tree furnish a winter shelter for the weevils.
VARIATIONS IN SIZE]
A third help in destroying the weevil is to rotate crops. If cotton does
not follow cotton, the weevil has nothing on which to feed the second
year.
WEEVIL IN 1913]
In adopting the first method mentioned the cotton growers have found
that by the careful selection of seed, by early planting, by a free use
of fertilizers containing phosphoric acid, and by frequent plowing, they
can mature a crop about thirty days earlier than they usually do. In
this way a good crop can be harvested before the weevils are ready to be
most destructive.
Every crop of the farm has been changed and improved in many ways since
its forefathers were wild plants. Those plants that best serve the needs
of the farmer and of farm animals have undergone the most changes and
have received also the greatest care and attention in their production
and improvement.
While we have many different kinds of farm crops, the cultivated soil of
the world is occupied by a very few. In our country the crop that is
most valuable and that occupies the greatest land area is generally
known as the _grass crop_. Included in the general term "grass crop" are
the grasses and clovers that are used for pasturage as well as for hay.
Next to grass in value come the great cereal, corn, and the most
important fiber crop, cotton, closely followed by the great bread crop,
wheat. Oats rank fifth in value, potatoes sixth, and tobacco seventh.
(These figures are for 1913.)
Success in growing any crop is largely due to the suitableness of soil
and climate to that crop. When the planter selects both the most
suitable soil and the most suitable climate for each crop, he gets not
only the most bountiful yield from the crop but, in addition, he gets
the most desirable quality of product. A little careful observation and
study soon teach what kinds of soil produce crops of the highest
excellence. This learned, the planter is able to grow in each field the
several crops best adapted to that special type of soil. Thus we have
tobacco soils, trucking soils, wheat and corn soils. Dairying can be
most profitably followed in sections where crops like cowpeas, clover,
alfalfa, and corn are peculiarly at home. No one should try to grow a
new crop in his section until he has found out whether the crop which he
wants to grow is adapted to his soil and his climate.
This is the second cutting of the season]
The figures below give the average amount of money made annually an acre
on our chief crops:
Flowers and plants, $1911; nursery products, $261; onions, $140; sugar
cane, $55; small fruits, $110; hops, $175; vegetables, $78; tobacco,
$80; sweet potatoes, $55; hemp, $53; potatoes, $78; sugar beets, $54;
sorghum cane, $22; cotton, $22; orchard fruits, $110; peanuts, $21;
flax-seed, $14; cereals, $14; hay and forage, $11; castor beans, $6
(United States Census Report).