62 



FRUITS AND THEIR USES 



Cotton Boll Weevil. — The cotton crop of the United States has 

 rather recently been threatened with destruction by a beetle called 

 the cotton boll weevil. This insect, which bores into the young pod 

 of the cotton, develops there, stunting the growth of the fruit to 

 such an extent seeds are not produced. The loss in Texas alone is 



Map showing spread of the cotton boU weevil. It was introduced from Mexico 

 about 1894. What proportion of the cotton-raising belt was infected in 1908 ? 



estimated at over $10,000,000 a year. The boll weevil, because 

 of the protection offered by the cotton boll, is very difficult to ex- 

 terminate. The weevils are destroyed by birds, the infected bolls 

 and stalks are burnt, millions are killed each winter by cold, other 

 insects prey on them, but at the present time they are one of the 

 greatest pests the South knows and no sure method of extermina- 

 tion has been found. 



