COTTON INSECTS 



393 



about 50 per cent. Such an enormous reduction as this 

 is not due solely to the smaller amount of cotton produced 

 per acre, but is partly due to reduction in acreage. For- 

 tunately in most of the country west of the Mississippi 

 River, where the boll-weevil has been present for a longer 

 time than anywhere else in this country, farmers, within 

 a few years after the arrival of this pest, have learned 

 to change their methods so as to regain a part or all of this 

 loss. However, even before the 

 boll-weevil had extended beyond 

 Texas and Louisiana, the injury to 

 the cotton crop was estimated at 

 more than $22,000,000 in one year. 



362. Food of the weevil. — The 

 injury done by this insect is practi- 

 cally confined to the squares and 

 bolls. The squares are decidedly 

 preferred, and as long as these are 

 present in abundance but little 

 damage is done to the larger bolls. 

 This preference for the squares, 

 rather than for the older forms, 

 makes it possible for farmers to grow cotton in spite of 

 the boll-weevil. This is done by hastening the early growth 

 of the plants so that many bolls will form and pass the danger 

 point before the weevils become very numerous. After the 

 weevils become very abundant in August, they sometimes 

 destroy every square in a field, so that no late blooms 

 appear. 



The injury is effected both by the mature weevil (Fig. 

 171), feeding from the outside of the square or boll, and by 



Fig. 171. — The Mature 

 Boll-weevil. 



Note the two projections 

 at the outer end of the 

 first joint of the front legs. 

 (Photo by W.E.Hinds.) 



