Show The Alfalfa Weevil E. D. Ball Tells of Rapid Growth The together with M. expert in charge of forage crop insect investigations for the his and Titus' of the Agricultural visited the district infested by the alfalfa weevil last It is the first time that the writer has visited this district since early last year and he was surprised and to find the extent of the damage and the rapid spread of tho weevil into new The attention of the experiment station was first called to the presence of this pest about two and investigation at that time showed that it has already become seriously injurious in a considerable district south of Lake and was then spreading m all From the testimony of the alfalfa it has apparently only been observed for a year or so previous to that but no doubt has been in the country for a number of as an insect pest of this kind spreads very slowly for the first year or but as' it gradually increases in numbers and becomes distributed along car and the its becomes much more rapid and it is liable to appear in districts at considerable distances from the original point of and this is apparently what is happening at the present Titus's investigations this spring show that the insect is now thoroughly distributed over Salt Lake county and is rapidly spreading northward around the point of the mountain into Davis In the same way it has passed the Jordan Narrows and has a firm foothold in the upper end of Utah villi a serious but isolated outbreak in Summit Titus took up the work of investigating the life of insect as soon as hife attention was called to and has been able to discover most the facts necessary in connection with this He also a large to see it number of experiments it would be possible to control its of are 1 only preliminary experiments based on the knowledge to be had at that and some of them are bound to be but if any one of them proves even partially it will give as a clue on which to It is a big problem and a very difficult If the pest will undoubtedly spread in a few years to all of the alfalfa growing regions of the At the present rate of distribution two or three years will be all that will be required to introduce it into most of the alfalfa growing regions of and as it occurs in immense numbers alongside of two of our transcontinental it will be the greatest wonder in the world if it is not carried for thousands of miles by this starting new centers of distribution which will rapidly the entire alfalfa growing The weevil was undoubtedly in into this country from France of probably in the hay that was used as packing for nursery stock or around A near relative of this weevil attacks the cotton in the southern It was introduced from Mexico and lias spread from the border of Texas through more than half of the cotton growing districts of the The government has spent a year in investigations and attempts to check this and it is still rapidly and caused something like worth of damage the past The alfalfa weevil threatens to be as serious a problem as its southern and was sent out by the government to investigate the situation and report to the secretary of agriculture recommendations as to what should be As a result of his said that he was satisfied that the problem was one of immediate and vital importance to the entire alfalfa- and that lie would recommend to the government that money be appropriated to assist the Utah experiment sta- tion in its work against this Titus will devote practically his entire time to the study of insect during the made arrangements to have his spend his time here and the experiment station will place still another man in the It was expected that a special appropriation would be made by the state for the carrying on of this but it was found impossible on legal so the entire burden will fall upon the experiment This is rather as only a few thousand lars of the experiment station funds are available for this and it is a problem of such magnitude that it warrants the expenditure of much This no doubt be remedied as soon as the next legislature convenes and congress considers the problem at its next A close watch should be kept by alfalfa growers in every section of the state to see that this pest does not break out in their It is a hard grayish brown about one-third to one-half the size of a quite active during warm The adult insect lives' over winter and commences to feed on the alfalfa as soon as it starts in the As soon as it warms up it lays eggs which hatch out into little yellow or green which are larger in the middle and usually These feed on the tips of the stunning it and preventing its full they drop to the ground and spin a gauzy cocoon among the leaves at the base of the At this time of the year the alfalfa where badly injured is very short and and all of the upper leaves are white where the insects have eaten off the green parts and left but the Thousands of acres in Salt Lake as you look across now have a silvery white appearance instead of the rich green that alfalfa field should It is hoped that some method will be found by which the greater part of the injury from this pest can be Logan do most young people show a preference for |