The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1909-03-31
WHAT EXPERIENCE TEACHES ABOUT WEEVIL.
AN OPEN LETTER BY DEPARTMENT OF AGRI-
CULTURE TO THE COTTON FARMERS

The boil weevil has invaded four
states and will undoubtedly infest
every cotton-producing country with
in a brief period, and with the hope
that our experience and observation
may be of service to you l will state
some material facts that impress me.
When we opened the office of the
Farmers Cooperative DemOnstra-
ton Work in Houston, Texas, in
January, 1904, for the purpose of
demonstrating to the cotton farmers
how a cotton crop could be produced
in the presence of the weevil we
found the most demoraIized condi-
ton that has ever come within my
observation. 1t was quite general,
but some sections were much worse
than others. l particularly recall
the struggle we had along the H..
and T. c. railway, especially with
the light sandy loan soils of Lime
stone and Robertson counties. We
found that the cotton crop had fall
en- the preceding year to a fraction
years, and that the people were so
demoralized as result, cotton being
almost their sole cash crop, that they
would scarcely listen to any argu-
ment in favor of producing more
cotton. No language can clearly de-
pict the panic that existed. In a
number of the towns many of the
stores were nailed up. In a large
section One-haIf 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
tion it was found necessary to sup
ply cotton seed and other seeds for
planting to save the situation l
soon learned, however, that the most
disastrous factor in the problem was
the alarm and the loss of all conf
dence on the part of the banks and
merchants. The sudden withdrawal
of advances made it impossible to
cultivate 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 become the current belief that
while possibly a cotton crop might
be made in the dry and prairie sec
lions that just as son as the weevil
struck the wooded sections of east
Texas where the conditions were
ideal for Information so many of the
Weevils would survive the winter
that it would be impossible to make
a crop, especially as eastern Texas
has a larger rainfall than the west
ern pTairies. 1t was useless to ar
que the matter; they thoroughly be-
lieyed it and it required all the in
t1uence We could bring to bear to
induce them to plant and manage
their cotton crop according to our
directions, To the credit of the
merchants and bankers let it be said
that they generally rallied to our
support and did extend, at our So
licitatiOn, considerable aid to the
farmers. The farmers were urged
10 live as much as possible on the
products Of the farm and to raise
Irish potatoes, melons and other
early maturing crops for market to
help pay current expenses. This was
done. We were also obliged to in
troduce an earlier and better variety
of cotton with which we could more
successfully combat the weevil. Our
plans worked exceedingly well, and
by the fall of 1904 confidence was
entirely restored and farmers found
that they had made more money
than usual in a single year because
they lived on the products of their
farms and within their current in
comes. They owed very little, and
had made a pretty fair crop. The
total cotton product in Limestone
county in 1903 was 16,4O0 bales; in
1904, the year we commenced work,
1t was 41,800 bales; in 1906 it was
1920 bales; in 1908, while full re-
ports were not in, it will probably ex-
coed 1900 bales. Of course be-
tween these years there were some
bad crop years, but even in the bad
years it did not fall anywhere near
the level Of 1903. This is only
sample of what has occurred as the