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CONCLUSIONS. 27 



As the weevils are restricted for food to the pollen of the cotton 

 plant and are unable to begin to breed until the production of flower 

 buds has begun, breeders of new varieties for weevil conditions 

 should consider that plants may gain rather than lose if the forma- 

 tion of fruit buds can be deferred till the roots and other vegetative 

 parts have made considerable progress, especially if this preliminary 

 growth allows the more rapid formation of fruit buds when fruiting 

 has once commenced. 



Though later flowering varieties might appear to suffer more from 

 the weevils than the early-flowering varieties if the two were planted 

 side by side, the true agricultural value of a late-flowering variety 

 would not be settled by such an experiment. It is obvious that some- 

 what later flowering would not be a disadvantage if it shortened the 

 period of setting the crop. Nor would a somewhat later opening of 

 the first bolls be undesirable, especially if there were a tendency for 

 the whole crop to open more nearly together. 



The practical value of rapid-fruiting long-staple varieties would 

 also be increased if they were planted by whole communities. The 

 exclusion of earlier short-staple varieties might be expected to give 

 the long-staple varieties less exposure to weevil injuries, and at the 

 same time it would help to maintain the uniformity of the crop by 

 avoiding cross-pollination by bees and admixture of seed in public 

 gins. 



220 



