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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).



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