Show THE ALFALFA WEEVIL IN SANPETE COUNTY methods of control B T R benamon Denn Be nalon loD county agent every town in sanpete county has the alfalfa weevil this year only part of the field fields are injured by it eren even in ili the name town some fields are very much infested while others othere remain comparatively free from the peat pest it Is doubtless true that the weevil baa has come to stay neit next year it will only be more numerous and more evenly distributed in the past post eare ear farmers have concluded that it I 1 is impossible to tc profitably grow al felth in weavil weevil infested rif ested section and therefore have plowed up their fielda fields and seeded to other crops where this hac has u babu done it has may py p y to cross drag it I 1 ahr bin treatment ment if it properly carried out hould should leao leae tho the field with n fine dust mulch over the tile surface and the alfalfa stem stems bare ull all the louea lemes being torn off them several se eral benefits accrue from tine thin method the ground is in better condition to carry a second crop crol 1 aid wad the harrowing aad and dragging 9 have killed man many of thu the larvae ind lender a pupae the larsan that arlve surlie have to crawl through fine dust to tu reach the stear ard the few that really get to the stems find little to feed upon A few hours in the dust or unprotected on the stems by shade gives tho the hot sun an opportunity to kill the larvae it is better not to irrigate for a few days in order to allow the sun and dry dust to kill them tle second crop will now start quickly and by weevil A dang made by ting together usually been a mistake oar our western conditions are very favor 1 able for the production of alfalfa we have bare no forage crop that ie is its equal timothy red clover brome grass etc in moat most cases fail fall to give the returns it baa has been demon that the weevil can be to con trolled strolled troll ed it ie is no longer an esperi meu the utah agricultural col lege hai has juet just formulated a set of i directions for the western farmer to aid bini him in handling this pest these directions are a follows when the first crop of alfalfa shows signs of serious injury it should be cut and removed from the field as all last faataa as possible then the field should be gone over with a spring tooth borrow or alfalfa cultivator this treatment should be followed with a heavy brush or wire dragging if it the held field ir heavily infested with worms i ia al at tho the butts a number of pieces of brush might as well bo be kept off the tile field there is no means of hold ing the this brush down closely to the ground in making a successful brash drag keep the brush as lilt flat aa as pos a ible keep the butts low and lot each ba separately fastened oa on top of a plank or pole polo or pushed through holee holes bored through the pole the butts may be nailed bolted or wired into plaze 1 and another plank fayod over the butts and firmly fastened down will aid in it making the brush more secure an ordinary barrow harrow laid on oil the brushy part of the tile drag will aid in evenly weighting it and will help to drive the brush into the hollow crevices and to tt tar ar the leaves and bt fit albl k plank or log may bo be laid across a dag on which the driver may ra nd in any case the brush n p da js weighting down in some manner WIRE DRAG A wire drag is made by taking a piece of chicken wire and a piece h bog og wire and fasting them under a pike spike tooth harrow allowing the tile wire to extend back ten tell feet bo be hind bl ud the harrow weight down iowa the back end of tho wire this makes a vory very effective effe clive drag ROTATION it does not dot pay to run alfalfa longer than effic or six years year in a weevil infested district CLEAN OLEAN CULTURE to d the hibernating place places should bould be IA tho tile am aim of a careful farmer armer lite means clean tip the weeds grass and along the canals ditches and fence rows destroying old stack bott bottoms do oot tot leave small piles of hay bay in the tile field burn or plow under the tile dead vines weeds grass stalks and the like left in the garden at the end of the season do 10 not leave largo large manure pile piles or other nn un kimary 4 mat materials brIals around the bares and outbuildings out buildings autard cut ard remove the alfalfa along the border of the felds as a well as you do that in ju the center |