St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1909-02-27
KNAPP EXPERIENCE ON
The BOIL
WEEYIL.

The boil weeviI has invaded your
state and will undoubtedly infest
every cotton-producing county within
d brief period and, with hope that
our experience and observations may
be- of service to you, | will state
some material facts that impress me.
When we opened the Office Of the
Farmers Cooperative Demonstration
Work in Houston, Texas, in January
1904, for the purpose Of demonstrate
ing to Che cotton farmers how a cotton
crop could be produced in the pre-
sence of the boil weevil, we found the
most demoraIized condition that has
ever come within my observation. 1t
vas quite general but some sections
we're much worse than others. par
tieularly recall the struggle we had
along the Il. & 7. G. Railway, espe-
cially with the light, sandy loan soils
of Limeston and Robertson counties.
We found that the cotton crop had
fallen The preceding year to a frac-
ton Of the average product Of for
ner years, and that the people were
80 demoralized as a result, cotton be-
ing almost their sole cash crop, that
they would scarcely listen to any ar
gument in favor Of producing more
cotton. No language can clearly
depict the panic that existed. In a
number Of the towns many Of the
stores were nailed up. In a large
section, one-half Of the cotton farms
had been abandoned and on the re-
naming farms people were trying to
diversity and find something that
would be fairly profitable, without
planting cotton. Over quite a sec
ton It was found necessary to supply
cotton seed and other seeds for plant
ing, to save the situation. I soon
learned, however, that the most dis
astrous factor in the problem was the
alarm and the loss Of all confidence
on the part of the banks and mer-
chants. The sudden withdrawal Of
advances made it impossible to culti-
yate a large portion Of the land in
cotton because they could not pay
the labor. The labor left and many
Of the small farmers left for more
prosperous sections. In some way It
had decome the current belief that,
while possibly a cotton crop might
be made in the dry and prairie sec
lions, chat just as soon as the weevil
struck the wooded sections Of East
Texas where the conditions were ideal
for Information, 50 many Of the weeyils
would survive the winter that it
would be impossible to make a crop
especially as Eastern Texas has 2
larger rainfall than che Western
prairies. IT was useless to argue the
matter they thoroughly believed it
and It required all the influence we
scould bring to bear to induce them
10 plant and manage their cotton
crop according to our directions. Tc
the credit Of the merchants and bank.
ers let it be said that they generally
rallied to our support and did extend
1t our solicitation, considerable ali
to the farmers, The farmers wert
urged to live as much a possible Oh
the products Of the farm and TO raist
Irish potatoes, melons andother earl
maturing crops for market TO hell
pay current expenses. This wa
done. We were also obliged to in
troduce an earlier and better variet.
Of cotton with which we could NOR
successfully combat the weevil. On
plans worked exceedingly weIl an,
BY the fall of 1904 confidence wa
entirely restored and farmers foun.
that they had made more none.
than usual in a single year becaus
they lived On the products Of thei
farms and within their current in
comes. They owed very little an,
had made a pretty fair crop. TIL
total cotton product in Limesto,