161 



The facts that in all stages except the imago the weevil lives withirr 

 the fruit of the plant, well protected from any poisons that might be- 

 applied, and in that stage takes food normally only by inserting its 

 snout within the substance of the plant; that it is remarkably free- 

 from parasites or diseases; that it frequently requires but 11 days for 

 development from egg to adult, and the progeny of a single pair in a- 

 season may exceed 12,000,000 individuals; that it adapts itself to- 

 climatic conditions to the extent that the egg stage alone in Novem- 

 ber may occupy as much time as all the immature stages together in 

 July or August, are factors that combine to make it one of the most 

 difficult insects to control. It is, consequently, natural that all the 

 investigations of the Bureau of Entomology have pointed toward, 

 the prime importance of cultural methods of controlling the pest. 

 All other methods must involve some direct financial outlay for 

 material or machinery, and are consequently not in accord witb 

 labor conditions involved in cotton production in the United States.. 

 Moreover, the cultural methods are in keeping with the general tend- 

 ency of cotton culture; that is, to procure an early crop, and at the- 

 same time have the great advantage of avoiding damage by a large- 

 number of other destructive insects, especiall}^ the bollworm.^ Never- 

 theless, it must not be understood that attention has not been paid 

 to the investigation of means looking toward the extermination of 

 the pest. As a matter of fact, every suggestion, from the possibility^ 

 of breeding resistant varieties to the use of electricity in destrojdng- 

 the weevil, has been fully investigated. The results have all been: 

 negative. 



CTTLTTJRAIi METHOD. 



As has been pointed out by Dr. L. O. Howard, successful methods? 

 of combating injurious insects may be classified into three categories r 

 (1) The propagation of parasites; (2) expedients in managing the crop 

 that have a tendency toward mitigating damage; (3) direct meanSy, 

 such as spra3^s. Of course the first method is, in many respects, the- 

 most efi'ective, although it can not be expected to be applied to a great 

 number of pests. The second method is undoubtedly more effective 

 than the third, because it does not involve the use of special machinery- 

 or any materials that are not in use upon every farm. In the cultural 

 method of avoiding damage by the boll weevil, it is considered that 

 a fairly effective remedy has been discovered. In some respects the- 

 term cultural method is misleading. It is frequently used simply in- 

 the sense of careful and persistent cultivation of the crop. However^ 

 the term includes the various modifications of the cropping system- 



«See Farmers' Biil. No. 212 and Bureau of Entomology Bull. No. 50, the Boll- 

 worm. 



16780— No. 51—05 11 



