The Port Gibson reveille. [volume] (Port Gibson, Miss.) 1890-current, 1909-03-18

4dl LuCAS VAIN " dnd uAdW SONOAA
ment rations which were given tc
them to keep them from want
Lands dropped in price from forty
dollars to FIVE dollars per acre
| The government did not stop with
giving out food to those in distress
1t put experts to work to find ou
ways of checking this pest. Ovel
five hundred thousand dollar:
have been spent to bring to the at
tention of the farmers of this State
the various methods of fighting the
weevil which have been found tc
be good. The farmers in the in
tested districts finally take the Gov
ernment's advice, because they
have to, and then they grow good
crops of cotton.
'This town handled as high as 4o,-
900 bales of cotton before the boil
weevil came. 1t has handled as
low as 1000 bales since the ap-
pearance of the weevil. DR.. Knapp
and the Board of Trade of Tyler
employed man two years ago to
carry the Governments instruc-
tions to the farmers. The yield
has about doubled since Mr..
Stallings began work in this coun-
ty."
"My advice to you is to plant
your bottom lands in corn, oats,
peas, ETC., and your light uplands
in cotton. Prepare your cotton
land thoroughly in the fall and
spring, make heavy applications
of commercial fertilizers, plant
early maturing varieties of seed
early in the spring, and cultivate
as fast as possible. l plant Me-
bone Triumph seed on about
March 18th. I plant the seed on
a level, rows 81 feet apart. cul-
tivate every week with a spring
tooth cultivator. l knock all the
*
punctured squares off and cover
them with dust,
Mr.. w. C. Stalllngs, Tyler Tex
as, said; "Two classes of farmers
cause great trouble in the boil
weevil fight. One class becomes
frightened out of their wits, and
the other troublesome class knows
it all and will not take advice from
any source. The farmers who do
not lose their heads and at the
same time realize that the boil
weevil is a serious menace and
who learn the Government meth
DDS and carry them out will sue
ceed."
Mr.. w. G. Logan lives in Leon
county, Texas. This county is.
timbered and the soil is very dry
sandy upland. He said: uThe
weevil has been here for six or
seven years. It destroyed practi-
callY all of the cotton crop the
first year or two. The weevii now
does great damage when we have
a wet June or July. We seldom
have enough rain IN July make a
good crop of cotton and when we
do have enough rain to make an
extra good crop, the weevils gets
in his work. Plenty of rain in
July causes the boil weevil to do
nearly as much damage as the rain
does the cotton good"
Mr.. John Dawkins, Normoun-
ger, Texas, said: 81 have made
an average crop every year except
one. That year | made three bales
on 40 acres. 1t was a wet year."
Mr.. Dawkins lives in the edge of
the prairie region. He breaks his
land as soon as he can. He cul-
tivates his crop with large heel
sweeps and cultivators.
Mr.. F. M. Wilson, Normoun-
ger, Texas, said: 81 lost about
SI,5oo and one crop of cotton fool
ing with poisons. Don't fool with
paris green, arsenate oflead or any
other poison at any time. The re-
suits will not justify the use of poi
sons. have never been damaged
seriously but one year. The rea-
son why the boil weevil does not
do much damage in this county
now is because we use good teams,
improved tools and get up and git.
We have cleaned up and are doing
first class farming. Before the
weevil came, we did not begin to