40 PROLIFERATION IN CONTROL OF BOLL WEEVIL. 
of culture which has been customarily employed. Many factors must 
be considered in any hopeful solution of this most serious problem, © 
With insect pests ounces of prevention are worth many pounds of 
cure. The most promising solution of the weevil problem is undoubt-— 
edly found in a combination of the factors restricting weevil develop- — 
ment with those favoring crop improvement. The facts learned from — 
this study of proliferation may be utilized in the class of factors 
restricting weevil development. 
It appears that there is a small variation between different varieties 
of cotton in regard to the proportion of cases in which weevil punc- — 
tures stimulate proliferation. It is evident that the presence of pro- 
liferation increases somewhat the percentage of mortality among the 
larvee and pupee in proliferating buds and bolls. The plain conclusion 
is that the varieties which proliferate most freely will by that charac- 
teristic tend to restrain the rapid multiplication of the weevil. It is 
probable that varieties may be developed by repeated selections which _ 
will be more effective than any now known in restraining weevil — 
development in this way; still, this factor alone will probably never | 
be of more than secondary importance in reducing the number of — 
weevils, as other considerations will inevitably be more important in — 
determining the most desirable variety to plant. Although the obser- 
vations thus far made have failed to show any conclusive effect i: 
x 
eastern ses hl ed Wa athe 
fertilization of the soil upon proliferation, further investigations 
should be made upon this point. Much work would still be necessary — 
to determine any constant relationship between the formation of pro- 
liferation and climatic conditions. Probably little practical use could — 
be made of a knowledge of such climatic relationships if ascertained, — 
as the influential factors would always remain beyond ens control off - 
the cotton planter. : 
The tendency to proliferate is by no means a recently acquired char-_ 
acteristic of cotton; therefore it should not be supposed that it is — 
any more susceptible to such variation as will render it a still greater | 
obstacle to weevil development than are many other characteristics 
which may be emphasized with equal or even greater advantage in the | 
selection of new strains of cotton for growth in the weevil- “infested 
area. Such selections require much.time, and we may, therefore, feel _ 
somewhat encouraged to know that in the long fight yet to come we 
may expect this natural factor to accomplish no less than we have | 
found it now doing toward the repression of the weevil. Of course 
complete reliance can never be placed in natural factors for a solution — 
ofthe weevil problem. Doubtless the capacity of the weevil for adap-— | 
tation to-any new conditions which its food plant may present is just | 
asigreat-as is any adaptive capacity of the plant. Nevertheless, the 
interference of man is likely to throw the advantage greatly in favor” 
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