The Semi-weekly leader. (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1905-1941, 1909-03-03
ENCOURAGING BOIL MEEVIL REPORT.
4 Texan Contends That the NeeViI is
Not as Awful as Il Is Painted.

DR.. w. H. H. Lewis, of Fayette,
has received the following letter
from Mr.. z. Broughton, of Pales-
tine, Texas, which was published
in the New Orleans Picayune of
Tuesday. The letter is a reply to
a communication recently sent out
by DR.. Knapp of the Department of
Agriculture. The letter follows:
Palestine, Tex, Feb. "a, 1909.
DR.. w. H. H. Lewis, Fayette,
Miss:
Dear Sir:-I have in hand copy
of the Fayette Chronicle in which
appears an article by you, and it
seems from your reply that in some
way DR.. Knapp denies the state
ment that made to you while in
Texas that I had been rendered
position under his Department as
field agent; that tender was not
made by DR.. Knapp personally but
was made by one of his subor-
dinates, which amounts to the same
thing.
I regret that the statements |
made to you conflict with the teach
ings of DR.. Knapp's Department;
they were made truthfully, how
ever, and with no intention to mis-
lead. Your people are doubtless
discouraged over the boil weeviI
and no doubt listen to
many reports that are not true and
if they listen to the so-called boil
weevil experts, they will do many
dollars worth of work that will be
worthless to them, and in some in
stances actually injurious to their
crops. They will tell you to plant
early, and we know that to be
mistake, because if your cotton
will stand a cold spell after it
comes up, it will not mature fruit
as early as if planted later, and
you will have to work it longer,
hence it increases the cost of pro-
duction. They will tell you next
to cross-harrow your cotton after it
comes up; we have found that to
be work lost, and not only that, but
it Injuries the cotton, for it bruises
the stalks and causes what we call
here in Texas sore shanks (the stalk
rots and breaks off at the ground. }
The cross-harrowing does nothing
to hinder the progress of the wee
vii. They will tell you to pick up
the forms that fall off the cotton.
That does no good because we make
as much cotton where we don't pick
up the forms as we do when we
pick them up. Now, as to the
statements Imade to you, they are
applied to growing cotton under
natural conditions in Anderson
County, Texas; that is, without the
use Of fertilizer. We have never
planted crop Of cotton here that
matured all the forms that came on
the stalks, and it seems that the
weevil doesn't get any more of it
than it would otherwise shed, for
when the weevil works on cotton it
does not she'd its from any
other cause. Hence. by the intelli-
gent use of fertilizers you may in
crease the capacity of the plant for
putting on forms and consequently
mature them in proportion to its
capacity for fruiting; but no fer
tilizer should be used that increas-
es the size of the weed, as the
ravages of the weevil are worse
in heavy foliage than in light
foliage. still contend that it is
possible for the energetic, up-to-
date farmer to make as much cotton
as ever, even if he has the weevil.
The only successful fight yeu can
make on the Weevil is rapid culti-
vation, and that is only an intelli-
gent way to farm where there is.
no weevil. There will be a class
Of your people who will not make
much cotton with the weevil pres
ent, but if you will take notice it
will be that class who never made
much before. We make as much
as we ever made. The receipts of
our public weighers affirm this as
sertion Some claim this is due to
an increase in acreage, but that is
positively not true of Anderson
county; neither do believe it to
be true Of the State Of Texas. Our
people are financially in as good
or better condition now than they
were before the weeyil came. The
increased valuation of our farm
land affirms this assertion. There
are at least 80 per cent if not 80
per cent of the farmers of this
county who depend upon growing
cotton alone for living. When
the weevil first made It's appearance
here the people became excited and
sacrificed their property and hurt
themselves worse than the weevil
did. Bankers refused to loan mon
ey and the merchants refused to
give credit, and, in fact, every
kind of business was demoralized,
but now our bankers advertise
money to loan to farmers in the
county papers. and any honest man
can get credit if he wants it..
Now, Doctor, these are facts that
can be verified by any one who
cares to investigate.
And now, as to the Government
position: / made that statement to
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