76 WEEVIL-RESISTING ADAPTATIONS OF COTTON. 



No end is in sight of the new problems and adjustments of cotton 

 culture occasioned by the invasion of the weevils, and no assurances 

 can be given in advance regarding the utility of the weevil-resisting 

 adaptations, any more than with the kelep, or so-called " Guatemalan 

 ant." Both have a present value, however, in proving that the weevil 

 is no invulnerable dragon which it is hopeless to resist. Instead of 

 having no enemies, as long supposed, the weevil is regularly preyed 

 upon by the active and efficient kelep. And instead of there being- 

 no remedies which can be used against the weevil, it is now found 

 that the cotton plant itself has a whole series of weevil-resisting 

 characters — a whole boll weevil armory, as it were, from which we 

 may select and sharpen the weapons which prove best suited to our 

 purposes. 



The weevil period of each year, that in which the damage is done, 

 extends from the time when the squares are large enough for egg 

 laying to the period when a full crop would normally be set. If the 

 value of the cotton crop be divided by the number of days of this 

 period, the result will show the value of each day of protection. It 

 has been estimated by Mr. W. D. Hunter that the boll weevil damaged 

 the cotton crop in 1904 to the extent of $20,000,000. It is therefore 

 a very conservative estimate that when the pest shall have spread 

 over the other cotton-growing States the damage will be well beyond 

 a million dollars a day for the growing season — in unfavorable years 

 probably two million dollars or more a day. Each day of protection 

 which can be secured by the utilization of weevil-resisting adapta- 

 tions will have, therefore, very definite and considerable value, so that 

 the study and perfection of this group of characters are sure to be 

 the objects not only of formal scientific study on the part of special- 

 ists but of general interest and consideration on the part of the prac- 

 tical cotton-growing public. 



