COTTON 117 



more than twelve months without direct contact with a 

 source of food supply, hence the effectiveness of a three-, 

 four- and five-year rotation having the cotton field for each 

 successive year sufficiently separated so as not to make it 

 easy for the weevil to pass from one field to the other. 

 Cotton seed should be treated with carbon bisulphide in 

 order to make sure that no weevils are carried into new 

 soil. 



The cotton anthracnose or boll rot. Next to the boll 

 weevil, this is considered one of the destructive enemies to 

 cotton production. It is usually referred to as boll rot and 

 is a disease caused by fungous growth which attacks the 

 seedlings, the stems, and the boll pedicels. It causes the 

 loss of many millions of dollars every year. It develops 

 readily in hot muggy weather and where the planting has 

 been close. The best way to prevent this disease is by 

 careful seed selection. Healthy seed is very important and 

 the systematic rotation of crops necessary as the disease 

 spores will live upon dead bolls from year to year. It is 

 also possible to develop through selection of seed from 

 healthy stalks a plant quite resistant to the disease. 



TOPICS FOR INVESTIGATION 



1. To what extent does the boll weevil work in your 

 region? When did it first appear? Is it increasing or 

 decreasing? Ask your father about these questions. 



2. What other enemies damage the cotton crop in your 

 vicinity? What measures are being followed to eradicate 

 the evil? 



3. Make a collection of all the insect enemies of cot- 

 ton available in your vicinity, and learn to identify each. 



4. Work out a crop rotation based on cotton, corn, or 

 whatever is the staple crop of your region. 



5. Make a list of all the different uses which the parts 

 of the cotton plant serve. 



