COTTON BALL WEEVIL.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 12 July 1924, Page 11

COTTON BALL WEEVIL.

PLANT THAT DEFIES THE PEST. Another attack on the cotton boll weevil has Been made bv a Georo-ia grower, says 'the Manufacturers’ Record. By increasing the thickness of the hull oi the cotton boll through a process of breeding extending over 10 years, J. V. Cochran, of Marietta, Georgia, has produced a cotton tlfat praeLically defies the boll weevil. With this cotton,' the use of noison has been round necessary onlv while the stalks are young. After the boll has developed, the yield is assured without the timber use of poison, for the thickness of the hull furnishes full protection to the precious staple inside. The idea that the hull of the cotton boil could be made so thick that it could not be penetrated by the boll weevil came to Mr Cochran, about 10 years ago when he read of the ravages of the pest in °f the west, and realised that it was only a matter of : years when the Georgia farmers would be faced by the weevil problem. Setting himself to the task of producing a thick boiled cotton, .he selected three varieties with which he was familiar and planted! some of the seed. Calcium arsenate was* used by Mr Cochran while his cotton was small, giving the bolls an opportunity to obtain their growth, and then discontinued. Other .cotton, however was practically a total loss when the use of the poison was discontinued at the same time. Practically every green boll in the field was literally peppered with holes aronud the stem—-the bolls were the only thing in the field that remained, green at the time—but when a, boll was cut open it "was found that, with rare exceptions, the cotton was undamaged. Most of the bolls, however, opened perfectly, even though they were perforated at the base all around the stem. The weevil had done its bdst to get through t-o the lint inside. and failed.