The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1909-03-31


that the people could not cultivate
as much land as before. Then, there
are some people who are naturally
alarmists and they became busy in
every county which we entered. We
will take Harrison county, on the ex-
IRENE eastern border of Texas, where
the annual rainfall averages about
fifty inches. The boil weevil struck
this section in 1906, but too late to
seriously damage that crop. In 1907
the panic was so great that many of
the leading farmers did not believe
that a crop could be made, and they
set their help to cutting crOssties.
Some labor went to the saWmills,
some small farmers moved out of the
county altogether. 1t will be recol-
/ lected that 1907 was a bad crop year
on account of the cold spring, and
even in Louisiana many farmers had
to plant four times before they got
anything like a reasonable stand,
and then only secured an Indifferent
stand. We put into Harrison county
about two hundred trial farms of
! from one to five acres each. The
prominent citizens rallied to our sup
| port and gave every local aid posi-
| BILE. The season was so bad at one
| time during the spring a large body
of the tenant farmers decided to
abandon the farms entirely, and it
required our greatest effort to hold
the people to the making of a crop.
The crop that year was slightly less
than 5000 bales. But on the demon
stratiOn farms they made good crops,
that everybody was persuaded that
a good crop could be made, under
the worst conditions doubt if
there viii be any county in Arkan-
sas, Louisiana or Mississippi with
worse conditions than existed in Har-
risOn county, Texas, in 1907, unless
| it be visited with an overflow. That
year we had a large section of coun-
try where the farmers could not get
into the field for three weeks. The
ground was so soft that their horses
would sink so deep into the soil that
! it was impossible to do any work,
and all the fields became very grassy
If there had been no weevil there
would have been a small crop in
| 1907. The restoration of confidence
caused the extension of the planting
in 1908, with the result that the crop
! will approximate 10000 bales for
that year In the meantime there
| has been considerable diversif1catiOn,
all of which, with confidence in the
cotton crop, has been helpful to the
/ county and has produced a great ad-
vance in the price of real estate. A
recent letter from a prominent citi-
/ NJ Of hn cr+7 l.
have advanced, within the past two
years, from 100 to 500 per cent in
the county.
! have mentioned only typical
counties; the same battle went on
everywhere. | am therefore famil-
lar with the alarming cry that no
cotton can be produced as we go
eastward, because the conditions are
SO bad. The alarmists instance the
greater annual rainfall; this has very
little to do with the cotton crop
The question is one of rainfall dur
ing the growing period. The amount
of rainfall in the. winter and late fall
is not so important; in fact, such rain
is rather disastrous to the weevil
than otherwise. Nor is it evident
that the conditions are very much
worse for the Weevil should there
be a greater rainfall during the grow
ing periOr, provided there are the
same number of fair days The
weather bureau shows us that there
are just as many fair days in Missis-
sippi, Louisiana and Arkansas as in
eastern Texas during the growing
period of cotton. AS a rule a careful
/ GNy mi ,nf fN 4,
shows that there has been an excess
of fair days in those states during
the period mentioned I might men
ton another county where things
went very badly, and that was De
Soto parish, Louisiana, an ideal sec
ton for the boil weevil and one of
heavy rainfall. We commenced there
Z in 1907 because it was stated to us
that it was the worst infested section
! of the state. In 1908 the cotton crop
returned to nearly it's normal product
and confidence was completely re-
stored.
am not claiming that the weevil
is not a damaging pest, but | do not
think that it is nearly as bad as the
| panic. The loss Of confidence and the
withdrawal of loans, the removal of
many small farmers, and the general
exodus Of labor are sufficient to ac-
count for greatly reduced crops and
damage to the cotton interests even
if there had been no weeviI present
just as great fluctuations in the cot
ton product occurred prior to the
advent of the weevil as have occurred
since the weevil covered the whole
of Texas. 1t is frequently pointed
out: Look at the enormous decline
of cotton in Texas in 1907" But
they forget to point us to the restora-
ton of the crop in 1908 Take the
following: In 1904 a good crop was
produced in Arkansas, Louisiana,
Mississippi and Texas. Nineteen
hundred and five was a bad crop year,
but certainly it could not be charged
to any weeyil in Arkansas or Missis-
sippi, and in Louisiana the weeviI had
Just invaded the border of the state,
really had scarcely any effect on the