94 HIBERNATIOlSr OF THE COTTON BOLL WEEVIL. 



plant may take place most rapidly during the period of development 

 of the first and second generations of weevils. 



Early planted fields, although they may serve to attract, in some 

 small degree, the weevils from surrounding fields, will almost invariably 

 produce larger yields than later planted fields in the same locality. 

 The reason for this is, primarily, the longer period which intervenes 

 between the beginning of setting fruit with its coincident reproduction 

 of weevils and the time when maximum infestation of the field occurs. 

 Comparatively few weevils appear to move from one field of cotton to 

 another until after maximum infestation takes place. 



Repeated experiments in deferring the planting time of cotton have 

 invariably resulted in small and comparatively unprofitable crops. 



Extended observations made during the spring of 1906 showed that 

 volunteer" cotton occurred very commonly in fields and yards, along 

 roadsides, and around ginneries and seed houses in every one of the 

 seventeen localities examined about the middle of May, representing 

 territory then infested by the weevil and also extending outside the in- 

 fested territory into Mississippi, Arkansas, and Tennessee. This makes 

 it practically certain that volunteer'* cotton occurs everywhere 

 throughout the cotton-growing area, and it may therefore have con- 

 siderable significance in supplying emerged weevils with their first 

 food in spring. 



Extensive examinations have also shown that sprout " cotton com- 

 monly occurs throughout the southern half of the weevil-infested area 

 in Texas during the average season. As a rule the development of 

 this takes place several weeks in advance of the average planted cot- 

 ton, and it becomes therefore a very important factor in maintaining 

 hibernated weevils and in the development of their first progeny. 

 Although attention has repeatedly been called to this fact, large quan- 

 tities of sprout cotton are still allowed to grow unchecked. It is 

 doubtful whether it is advisable to cultivate this even where it 

 amounts to half a stand. Wlierever scattering plants occur in a field 

 of planted cotton they should certainly be chopped out as quickly as 

 they occur. The profit to be derived from them is nothing when com- 

 pared with the great damage which their presence may inflict upon 

 the remainder of the crop through provitling the earliest opportunities 

 for the reproduction and multiplication of the weevils. 



a The term "volunteer" is restricted to that class of cotton coming from the acci- 

 dentally scattered seed of a preceding crop. Sprout cotton, also called stubble or 

 seppa cotton, is a sprout growth from old cotton roots occurring during the winter or 

 subsequent spring. 



