When the farmer sees the plants shooting up too fast and failing 

 to blossom he knows that the weevils are at work and that only a 

 small crop may be expected, if not a complete failure. Thus boll- 

 weevil cotton is a cultural condition that needs to be recognized in 

 order that it may be avoided as far as possible. The cultural factors 

 of control for avoiding or restricting weevil injury are important, 

 and especially those that add little or nothing to the expense of pro- 

 ducing the crop. On this basis it may be considered that the boll- 

 weevil problem in Texas has been solved, since there is no longer any 

 question that production can be maintained or even increased if com- 

 mercial conditions are not too adverse. But the period of readjust- 

 ment and improvement of methods of production required by the 

 boll weevil is not at an end even in Texas, though farther advanced 

 than in other States. 



Dry weather often restricts the size of cotton plants in Texas and 

 also holds the weevils in check, so that the condition of boll-weevil 

 cotton is not reached every year. Prevalence of dry weather ex- 

 plains why the production of cotton has been maintained in Texas 

 and even greatly increased in many counties during the period of 

 the weevil invasion, by making use of improved methods and varie- 

 ties. How to get the most advantage from the favorable factor of 

 dry weather is a distinct cultural problem in Texas. Some seasons, 

 of course, are so dry that the cotton hardly reaches the fruiting 

 stage, or bolls that have set may fail to develop, but there is an equal 

 or greater danger of the plants growing too large when moisture is 

 abundant. Large, spreading plants are undesirable, even where 

 there are no boll weevils, on account of the late maturity of the crop. 

 The larger the plant grows beyond a desirable medium size the 

 greater the risk and exposure to injury by frost or other unfavorable 

 conditions, as well as by the boll weevils. 1 



The season of 1921 afforded unusually striking examples of the 

 development of boll-weevil cotton at the United States Experiment 

 Farm near San Antonio, Tex., in a region where the activities of the 

 weevils usually are restricted by drought. (PI. I, Fig. 1.) Dry 

 weather was not lacking in 1921 but came too late, after the plants 

 had grown large and the weevils had so much shelter that they con- 

 tinued to breed in great numbers till the end of the season. The 

 experiments were of interest as showing the extent to which the 

 weevils are protected by the large growth of the plants and how 

 necessary it is to avoid the condition of the overgrown boll- weevil 

 cotton. It was plain that the failure of some fields to set any crop 

 was due to the large plants that closed the lanes between the rows and 

 gave full protection to the weevils. Restricting the size of the indi- 

 vidual plants and keeping the lanes open between the rows of cotton 

 are cultural requirements of first importance under weevil condition?. 



DISTINCTIVE CHARACTERS OF BOLL-WEEVIL COTTON. 



Fields of boll-weevil cotton, in addition to the larger growth of 

 the plants, have a darker and more uniform green color that is 

 easily recognized even from a distance. That flowers are very few 

 or lacking entirely in the boll- weevil fields partly explains the differ- 



1 Cook, O. F. Relation of drought to weevil resistance in cotton. U. S. Dept. Agr., 

 Bur. Plant Indus. Bui. 220, 30 p. 1911. 



