Memoirs of the Department of Agriculture in India. Platyedra Gossypiella. The Pink Boll-Worm in South India 1920-1921

As was the case last year no signs of loncycle larvae being produced were found and the infestation of the new crop must come simply from survivors of the last generations produced in the previous year. [...] This is not true in every case and depends on the age of the boll when it was first attacked but for the purpose of arriving at a rough estimate of the loss to the crop due to Pink Boll-worm it is probably accurate enough. [...] In Table III are given the details of examination of ripe bolls from the 4 acres of cotton on the Central Farm 1920-21. [...] From this it will be seen that the percentage of locks destroyed is roughly a of the percentage of bolls attacked for the first or season picking and approximately half for the kar picking From this it follows that for the kar picking not only are more bolls actually attacked but also the amount of damage done is proportionately greater for the amount of infestation. [...] At Tiruppur the great cotton ginning and buying centre in Coimbotore District the opinion of buyers is unanimous that the quality of the cotton since the introduction of the Act has improved.