OCR Text |
Show THE UINTAH BASIN FABMER Clean out all spring cultivation. your fields and weeds from and fences, along your ditch bank3 and desweed3 eliminate will which as chalsis the such troy insect pests and eggs grass-hoppfly thrips, alof the the growth will stimulate weevil damage falfa so that less will be the result. In all this work, efficiency must he the watch word. Not only should one farm carry out this program propbut it should be a community weethe until wait not Do osition. do to vil are numerous enough now it hut begin serious damage and keep it up so that no serious result will follow. ALFALFA SEED PRODUCTION PESTS AND DISEASES AND THEIR CONTROL it er By H. J. Webb, State Crop Pest Inspector. First and foremost among the pests of alfalfa seed production in be attributed to that trinitiy of forces the Uintah basin I shall consider the alfalfa weevil because it is now widely distributed over the Uintah basin in small numbers and is least understood by the farmers of the Basin of all other insects effecting the alfalfa seed production. Life History The weevil passes the winter as an tdult with four wings, two hard shell covered and two membranous wings with which it flies. It hides under trash, along ditch banks and fences, in fieldj. under the sage brush, under the pine trees in the light there in their flight. During the first warm days of spring this Weevil begins activity, even before the first green stems of alfalfa appear, their first eggs are layed in the old stems and As the green shoots apstocks. pear the eggs are deposited in the hollow portion of the green stem and the little hole sealed up. The laying period continues for about six weeks with each female. Those that hibernate in the mountains do not fly into the fields until later in the summer and consequently we find some eggs being layed nearly all summer but there is only one generation per year. These eggs hatch in ten days or two weeks depending upon the temperature. Upon hatching, the little slimy, yellowish worm with black head, eats its way out of the stem and crawls to the top of the stem rnd hides beneath the unfolding leaves and get so numerous at times that further growth is prevented. any During serious infestations, where from one to two dozen larva or worms can be found on one stem. Each female lays from to nineteen-hundre- d eggs and It is in this worm perhaps more. or larva that serious damage occurs for their sole purpose is to eat and grow. They shed their skin several times during growth and each time become a little greener and n finally when they are inch long, green nearly one-ha- lf in color, white stripe down the center or their back and a black head. When full grown they go to the base of the stem and attach themselves to a leaf and spin a little white cacoon, oval in shape, wherein they transform from the larva to an adult stage. This is called the pupa stage. Control Measures Some people have suggested that such pests as the weevil and grasshoppers are sent as plagues to call the people to repentance and when they sufficiently repent the Lord will remove the plagues. Let us accompany our faith by our works however, and use yvhat means we can to control these pests. About the year 1912 the Federal Department of Agriculture introduced a parasite from southern Utah which lays its eggs inside the little alfalfa weevil larva or worm, where It hatches and grows, completely devouring the alfalfa weevil instead of coming out as an adult weevil it comes as an adult parasite and repeats the process. This has the appearance of a little black gnat with a yellow streak on the under side This will never beof its abdomen. come a plant pest as its habits are that it cannot live unless it has the weevil or some other host to feed five-hundr- ed full-grow- upon. This parasite is spreading fastei than the weevil. In the counties where the weevil had its origin, we have been able to find from seventy-fiv- e to ninety per cent of the weevil infested with parasites for the last five or. six years. The parasite is present in the Basin in goodly numbers. This parasite did its work so well the last two or three years proceeding this one that scarcely a wee- - 45 ,tV S: 4 Hr ( 5: $ V bf . . ! t 1 - I I x s - f This article will be continued in the October issue. PROMINENT WOOL ASSNS ADOPTING OFFICIAL GRADES Calcium arsenate may be oh- tained at the Salt Lake. Insecticide company or of the Denver Fire and Clay company of Salt Lake at the cost of about 20 cents per pound. Flowers of sulphur may be obtain- ed at the Z. C. M. I. at about ten cents per pound. As most of the alfalfa seed pro- duced in the basin is grown from the first crop it appears to me that it will be necessary to develop this spraying or dusting process to be successful in seed production in the future especially when the weevil get3 so numerous as to prevent the plants from blooming. This method will insure a good bloom and the vil could be found in many fields acre. throughout Salt Lake valley. Because of this condition the parasite had nothing to live upon of course it had to perish and then the weevil had a chanco to again appear in quite numterous quantitiies before the parwite could again catch up with it so that some damage was done on alfalfa This condition fields this year. may result every few years so that the parasite is not absolutely to be depended upon to hold the weevil have been tested out such as burning, dragging or mudding, dusting, spraying, various forms of cultiva- - seed crop tion. Where the seed from the other tMngs that should second crop is to be produced the be Among to have late fall or earl done first crop of hay must be cut rather early just as it begins to bloom for that is the time that serious weevil damage appears. The biggest percentage of eggs are then layed, most of the larva hatched, so if the hay has been cut and moved as quickly as possible the fields can then be gone over with a springtooth harrow alfalfa cultivator or other implements to thoroughly loosen the soil. It should then be gone over two or three times each Way with a drag made of several layers of woven fencing wire fastened on the inner side of the spring-toot- h harrow with the teeth slanting backwards and the harrow heavily weighted. This will leave your field like a dusty road. Keep it in this hot, dry, dusty stage for at least two days without any irrigation. The hungry weevil crawling out on the ground for something to eat will survive for only a few minutes on a hot summer day. The work, however, must be thoroughly done. Spraying with two pounds of calcium arsenate in one hundred gallons of water which will cover one acre, if properly applied just at the time that serious damage appears, will kill enough weevil that will enable the first crop to bloom considerable. Any spray pump will to produce from seventy-fiv- e pounds of pressure with a wide boom, that will at least take twenty foot space, that will fold up and pass hrourh gates, will be satisfactory. The hay can then be ent if the seed has to be produced from the second crop or if the first crop is desired for seed, can be allowed one-hundr- ed to remain. Recent experiments show that two pounds of dry calcium arsenate m'xed with eight pounds of dry flowers of sulphur gives equally good results as the cablum arsenate in a wet solution and Is much ea ier and more quickly applied. This can be applied any time during the day even on windy days. The traction duster by the Bean Uompany, Ban Jose, California would ,Vlr Claude likely prove efl!en Kakeland of I'arrna, Idaho Is developing machinery for this purpose. The .Viagra Duster Is ano'her one recommended. This amoutt Is as sufficient to covey ooa ! of the Approximately 25 per cent be will graded this year wool clip on the basis of the United States official grades for wool. The grades are being used by prominent wool dealers in Chicago, St. Louis, and by the adelphia, and BostonBureau YV ool Farm Southwestern v and Mohair Association, the lrgm-an- d ia Wool Growers Association, the pacific Wool Growers Association, members of the National Association of Wool Manufacturers, the Nation- al Wool Warehouse, and other censed warehouses. I Uintah Meadows Dairy Assn 1 |