George Washington Carver: A National Agricultural Library Digital Exhibit

1918

National Agricultural Library

BEANS, PEAS, AND COWPEAS are often damaged seriously in storage and in the field by weevils. Velvet beans and soy beans are rarely infested in this country. Bean and pea weevils not only destroy much of the Nation's food in the form of leguminous crops hut are responsible for a curtailment in the acreage planted to these crops. They never attack corn and wheat.

There are no satisfactory artificial remedies that can he applied to kill weevil grubs in beans, peas, or cowpeas growing in the field.

The crop should he harvested as soon as possible after maturity and the seeds thrashed or shelled and treated by fumigation, heat, or cold storage, in order to kill the weevils in them before they can continue their destructive work and mature.

The bean and cowpea weevils breed generation after generation in stored seeds. Hence seeds should be watched after treatment to make certain that they do not become reinfested. If stored in tight containers or in rooms free from adult weevils the chance of reinfestation will he reduced to a minimum.

This bulletin tells about the principal kinds of bean and pen weevils and explains fully the methods of averting losses from these pests.

Bean and Pea Weevils