24: WEEVIL-RESISTING ADAPTATIONS OF COTTON. 



of the cotton by the Indians at Rabinal, as described in the next 

 paragraph, is an artificial mean- of attaining the same end. but the 

 native Sea Island cotton, found at San Lucas, and the Kidney cotton, 

 at Tucuru, are the best Guatemalan examples of this protective habit. 



ANNUAL CrTTING BACK OF PERENNIAL VARIETIES. 



"While the annual variety of cotton protected by the keleps is the 

 basis of the only field culture found in eastern Guatemala, the Indian 

 population of the central plateau about Salama and Rabinal raise 

 small quantities of cotton in their dooryards by means of another 

 cultural expedient, apparently of great antiquity, as indicated by the 

 extent to which the plant is adapted to the cultural conditions. The 

 variety is perennial and has very small and inactive nectaries, pos- 

 sibly as an adaptive result of the dryness of the climate, 



Most of the perennial varieties begin bearing only after the plants 

 have attained considerable size, but the Rabinal cotton is a notable 

 exception to this rule and avoid- injury from weevil- by the very 

 prompt flowering and fruiting of the new shoots. 



The weevil- are present in number-, and are frequently seen crawl- 

 ing about on the plants in a leisurely manner quite different from 

 that which they affect in regions stocked with keleps. At the time 

 of our visit not a single boll or bud of any except the smallest -ize 

 could be found which had not been attacked by them. Nevertheless, 

 a crop of cotton is secured at another season. In the month of April 

 the Indians cut back all the bushes to the ground, and as the cotton 

 is always planted immediately about the doors of their houses, where 

 the chickens and turkeys congregate, the mortality of weevils at this 

 time is probably very great. The protection of the domestic birds 

 doubtless continues until the new shoots have grown out of reach. 



As soon as the plants are a few inches high they begin flowering, 

 and before the weevil- are sufficiently increased in numbers to become 

 injurious a crop has been set. Flowers and fruit are commonly borne 

 on the lower branches, only 6 or 8 inches from the ground. The 

 Indians say that if the cotton is not cut back, but allowed to grow 

 tall, they get no crop. The fact i- that by that time the weevil- are 

 too numerous to permit normal bolls to be formed. Our search for 

 such was quite in vain on both our visits to Rabinal. One boll which 

 gave no certain external proof of injury was wrapped up in a paper 

 and retained as a sample, but was overlooked in packing and not 

 transferred to the preserving fluid. When the paper was unwrapped 

 a few weeks later three dead boll weevils were found. 



The Rabinal cotton crop is evidently not large, but the harvest is 

 said to be regular, and the area of fertile land in this district is so 

 -mall that none of it is wasted. Much foreign thread is now 



