The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-08-07
GOVERNMENT WORK IN AID OF FARMERS Congressman Clayton Tells
 What Is Being Done FIGHT ON BOIL WEEVlL pr. S. A. Knapp Is Doing Signal Ser vice in Warning Farmers of
 Boil WeevI and Advising
 Them on Crops.
FIGHT ON BOIL WEEVlL

Washington, August 6g-(Special.) )-The very interesting meeting of the state agents of the cooperative farm demon stration work has about concluded it's more than a weeks session at Washing ton. The Alabama congressman have at tended these meetings regularly their duties in Congress would allow. Congressman Clayton has given to your correspondent the following interview. which will be of interest to all cotton planters.
 MT. Clayton said:
 The farmers cooperative demonstra- ton work under the Jurisdiction of pr. S. A. Knapp. is doing great good for the southern farmers. They are beginning to realize the practical benefit to be de- rived from the lectures and the demon stration work being done by Dr. Knapp and his corps of assistants throughout the cotton-growing states.
 Dr. Knapp's assistants from the II cotton-growing states have been here the last week, and he has been holding with them series of meetings, discussing and considering various agricultural problems in the cotton states. Conditions of the ag- ricultural interests have been fully dis cussed and plans and views for the fu- ture work have been considered. The states infested by the boil weevil are rep resented by Messrs Proctor and Quick sail of Texas, Bentley of Arkansas, Evans of Louisiana, Tate and Moss of Missis- sippi, and the states not yet affected by the boil weevil were represented by Messrs Wilson and J. c. Phelps of Ala bama, Williams of South Carolina, Hud- son of North Carolina, Meharge of Flor ida, Gentry of Georgia and Sandy of vir- ginia.
 Fight on Boil WeevI.
 Among the objects sought to be ac- complished by the work is to aid the farmers in the boil weevil infected dis tricts to overcome or minimize the boil weevil injury. The demonstration work has shown that great good has been and can be accomplished by an intelligent following of the advice and methods ad- vocated by those engaged in this work The weevil hibernates in the cotton fields and in adjoining woodlands. As early
 
 when the spring is early than when the spring is late-the old weevil comes out and seeks the young cotton plant and in- fects 1t. As soon as the squares appear 1t bores into or punctures the square and deposits its egg, and the gum or exuda- tion of the young plant fill up the hole or opening. The square soon dies and falls off, and before long the larva in 1t, under the influence of the sunshine, matches. This takes about 21 days from the time of the deposit of the egg to bring the weevil to maturity, and then this new crop is ready for business. It Is said that 100000 may be the family in one season of one pair of weevils.
 How to overcome or circumvent the destruction wrought by the boil weevil is the problem that the southern farmer must solve. He owes it to himself, to our great section that God has blessed with well-nigh monopoly of the cotton pro- duction of the world. He owes it to hu- manity that must look to the fleecy staple of Dixie for the most part for raiment wherewith to clothe it's nakedness Dr. Knapp and his assistants have shown how the boil weevil injury may be at least minimized. Their work has demon- strated the wisdom of pursuing the fol- lowing plans.
 Reduction of Acreage.
 The first recommendation is that the farmer reduce his acreage, so that he can intensity in preparation and In cultivation and also in fertilization where fertilization is needed. Then when the first weevils appear the women and children ought to go through the cotton field, row by row, and pick off the boil weevil, just as Is done in the tobacco-growing states with the tobacco worm. Then, when the squares fall off-and those that do not fall off but are dead-they are gathered together and burned. This ordinarily has to be done at least two or three times a season. It ought to be done as often as necessary. It is estimated that with the cheap help on farm, this does not cost over s2 per acre, and In fact on many | of the farms where there is an abund- ance of cheap labor the cost is almost inappreciable.
 Advantages of Reduction.
 The advantages to come from the de- creased acreage of cotton are twofold In the first place, it facilitates intensive cultural methods, and intensive methods increase the production per acre It is i more profitable, of course, to cultivate land that will make a bale of cotton per acre than land that will produce only a third of a bale per acre, which is about the average of cotton production in the south. It is obvious that the squares containing the boil weevil can be gathered off of ten acres more quickly and at less cost than off of 20 acres. The