The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-09-26
FARMERS PLAN ID
 PLANT MORE R|CE Cotton Failure In Mississippi
 Causes An Awakening MORE GRAIN To BE GROWN
Boil WeeviI Has Come To Stay in Mis- slssipp and Cotton Will Nos Pay-Good Roads Move
 ment Under Way.

Jackson, Miss, September 1-(Special) ! [ The department of agriculture Is receiv- ing great many requests for informa- tloh as to the cultivation of rice, wheat and other cereals, and the indications are that a great deal more of such crops are to be planted next spring than ever before in the state of Mississippi.
 There are scores of farmers who have had some experience with the boil weevils and who are beginning to appreciate what such pest means A few weeks ago they were disposed to laugh at the boil weevil scare" as they called it. but they have changed their tune now, and are ready to admit that the pest means starvation on the cotton plantation.
 one or the most prominent citizens of Jackson who has large planting interests in the delta, on the Louisiana side of the Mississippi river, was heard to declare month ago that he had the finest prospect for @ cotton crop that he had ever seen. He was in the very midst of the boil weevil section, but he had taken the advice of the government experts and was gathering and burning all fallen and withered bolls and forms, and was con- vinced that he had solved the problem. and was in high feather, with disposl- ton to laugh at those of his neighbors who were in terror. He now thinKs other wise, and declares that he will not make enough cotton to pay for the meat the ne- groes on his plantation have eaten. to say nothing of the meal and flour and molasses.
 This Jacksonite wants to get at rice planting for the next year, and is gath Ing all the data obtainable. His inquiries are similar to those of scores of others who are in the same predicament. They have done the best they could under the circumstances. but they were unequal to the battle with the weevil, and their cotton, planted late on account of the backward season. has been destroyed. The only cotton that will be made on such farms is of the first or bottom crop. The old bolls have escaped the ravages of the bugs, the middle and the top crop is lit- erally eaten up, and there is no help for 1t. They have demonstrated that only very early plantings of cotton will pay and the seasons are of often such that there can be no early planting
 For these and other reasons the farm CTS are turning to rice, wheat and other fcod crops for man and beast, and the chances are that the visit of the pestter- ous boil weevil is going to prove bless ing in disguise, just as many have de- clared during the past year or two.
 Good Roads Movement.
 Those citizens of Jackson who have interested themselves in the matter of good roads would like for 1t to be generally understood, especially by members of boards of supervisors, that a Mississippi Good Roads association" is to be organized here on October 26 and that the representatives of the foremost manufacturers of road build ing machinery will be present for the purpose of testing and demonstratinN the work their machines can do.
 On this same date the Supervisors association is due to meet ln- this city. and in view of the fact that 1t is the first day of the state fair there does not seem to be any good reason why large and intelligent gathering should not be here.
 The idea of those at the head o1 the movement is to get the supervisors of the state here. There are 7S coun- ties in the state and each county has five supervisors In the event they all came to town on that day there would be 390 of the foremost and most influential men of Mississippi in at tendance, and the teachings of the road building experts would be widely dis Seminated.
 Already some of the makers of road building machinery are shipping. their goods to Jackson. Bills of lading have been received from two or three of the biggest concerns in the United States, and there .iss no doubt the display of machinery Is going to be the best ever seen in the state. The machines thus sent are to give practical demonstra-