The new South-news., 1908-11-14
TEXAS BOIL WEEVIL FIGHT

BY H. C. STRICFELLOw

ing. but not In trucking. Raise stand
ard crops. My place contains 1900
acres. Have 500 acres In cotton. 500
res mesquite grass. $50 acres corn.
loo acres oats. On my 500 acres
mesquite ! have SIS mule colts. so or
50 head OF Durham cattle. am 10
ing 10 get rid Of cattle and stick to
II lies- Ticks are tco bad. and cattle
do not pay. Mules pay we'll. Oats
Is good crop and par. Mules pay
we'll; understand,' | DO not breed
muies. buy them as coils. feed and
take care OF them until they are
three years old. and reap good prof
H. NY cotton crop before boll wee
r $50 bales. Since boil wee
- ~ 70 10. bat have cut ex-
penses aeevrdingiy. abolished the one
horse sweep. took up tne cultivator
and worked 40 to 90 acres to the
hand, instead of 90 Boil weevils
teach you progress and economy"
We went through his pasture. 500
acres level valleys and slop.ny hills.
all matted with mesquite grass. with
. living stream OF water flowins
through it. forming a combination OF
beauty that nature rarely develops.
saw SO mule colts making their liv-
Ing on grass. with but little corn: in
fact, believe ColoneI Gibson told
ue they had never tasted corn. BE
that as IT may. they were a fine look
Ing lot OF colts, all well developed,
round and fat. Also saw his fine
Durham cattle. ne said. See that
COW, paid $3.50 for her mother. |
n A,tt
OF the business; am too old to make
1t pay; ticks too bad
From the pasture we went to his
barns. They were filled with corn.
oats and hay and every work mule
zeal fat under shed and an Andrew
Jackson rule Of discipline. that
ought to be practiced by every farm
er. From the barns we went to the
cotton flelds. | had not forgotten the
gun barrel rows. and expected to
see crooked gun barrel, but not
so. Every row as straight as a die,
and showed thorough cultivation.
The cotton was waist high and not
bloom In the field. Boil weevils
claimed top crop and had H. He was
making one-third bale to the acre
His corn crop was good His oat
crop consisted of $50 acres. Had
10 acres up and was tall enough to
Craze; was then breaking 80 acres
more for spring planting and his
suiky plows were turning all vege-
tation out OF sight. lake this farm
as a whole and II was the best reg
ulated farm | ever saw. and while
Louisianan farmers may think &17,-
600 would not be much revenue
from 1900 acres in our years, re-
member this was net and In a boil
weevil section besides the colonel .
household expense In a town like
Corslcana Is not q small item.
When | bid Colonel Gibson good
bye he said: ''Go home and tell your
people not to ffs diaa0seRa0nAs~-Good
wfii Yet now from ev4t.' The second
and third year OF boil weevils may
pass them through the crucible. as
1t did us here. but after that the
pest ~vIl grow less ravenous, and
you can again grow cotton, less the
top crop. After that bottom and mid
die crops can be made. but lay aside
the oDe-horse sweep and take the
cultivator. Curtail the acreage in
cotton heavy the second and third
year to escape loss. and stick to d.
verified standard crops as have,
and they will succeed
| Gentlemen. believe 1t will pay
to take the advice of this success
ful and grand old man.
| Near Corsicsna / saw the only
| crop Of cotton that had a D,oom on
it, Rode up to a farm house that
was surrounded by cotton crop
OF so acres. All blooms weer gone,
except about | l-2 acres immedi-
stely In front OF the residence
asked why that was. The lady OF
the house said shc did not know
unless 1t was because her guineas
had lived in that l 1-2 acres all the
year and proved = parasite to boil
weevils.
| | went to Waco. to inspect the
cotton Immediately on the Braxos
and what Is known as the valley
bottom of the Brazos Next to the
river proper the soil Is z little heavi-
er, but as the land recedes becomes
lighter, is much like the soil OF
the Ouachita.
In company with Captain Watts
visited several farms east of the
brazos. This land is higher than the
ulley proper. yet some of It over
lowed this year. Found some poor
cotton, but the majority OF 1t good
~ few. crops opened close tc
In no crop did fail to fnd
sevii. One tenant has a crop
cf ma cotton in a certain cut. and
IN another,- the cotton Is almost
worthless. but with a growth that
was fine as to weed. said. "Ex-
plain this to me-" Re said. well
eir, all the rest OF my cotton il
March cotton. This ground vas cold
and vet in March and l put on
painting until the f1rst of May. Boil
weeyils took 1t and l will never
piant cotton late again. J. B. Ellis
o"ned this crop. He had IL Ia
scres OF March cotton and counted
N o bales he will not miss 1t much
powed his cotton 10 times.
I1en we won't over the large
arms OF Messrs. Smith and Clinton
ound a good cotton crop, which
Wi average two-thirds OF = bale to