The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1910-01-26
B. WEEvIL PUTS UP A BLUFF
KNAPP GIVES SEVEN GOLDEN
RULES FOR FIGHTING PEST.
One of Uncle Sans Agricultural
Sharps Says That Pessimism Is
Farmers Greatest Drawback

farmers Greatest Drawback.
MEMPHIS, Tenn.-Bon weeviIs
have cost the United States untold
hundreds of thousands of dollars in
the destruction of the cotton crops,
but most of it is to be charged against
the bluff" that the insect puts UP,
or rather the fear that it's approach
inspires. According to DR.. Seaman
A. Knapp, of the department of agri-
culture, the average cotton planter
was defeated before he ever began
to fight the pest.
Of all the drawbacks that confront
the cotton planter, DR.. Knapp is COR
WINGED that pessimism is the worst
He said so plainly and emphaticalIy
here today in an address ON the
weevil and the evils that follow in
its train
The first and most serious of
these" he said, lis the wave of dis
couragement and pessimism in adj
vance of the weevil. Many honest.
! but mistaken men affirm in advance
OF the weevil that cotton cannot be
successfully made where the weevil
appears. Immediately the bankers
and the merchants withhold credit.
Labor is compelled to leave, The
farmers do half work and frequently
abandon portion of their crop. This
frequently results in a loss of twenty
per cent. before the weevil has done
any damage"
This 'beaten-in-advance" attitude.
DR.. Knapp went on to say, resulted
in the humiliating surrender of
planters and their throwing up of
/ the sponge" in the second year, with
the result that the weevil is permitted
a free territory in which to ravage
and multiply, and the crop falls to
twenty-five per cent. of it's average.
Much of this loss is failure to
plant and to cultivate" he said, with
an earnestness that impressed his
audience. II will give you numerous
examples in proof of what [ say by
quoting reliable government figures
and instances in Texas and Louis
lana"
The speaker then submitted a mass
! of statistical information touching on
conditions in many counties in Tex
| Louisiana. He insisted that from
thirty to forty per cent. of the decline
| in production in the second year of
| the weevil was due entirely to dis
couragement and the CONSEQUENT in
ability to obtain advances from the
| banker All of this depression, DR..
Knapp declared, was charged to the
boil weevil, while it rightfulIy
should be charged against the plant
ers who succumbed to opposition and
threatened invasion.
! Following up his arraignment of
the planters themselves DR.. KNAPP
furnished seven rules for the guild
ance of those who would fight the
! pest successfully. They were as fol-
lows:
! First. Early destruction of the
stalks.
Second There must be better
! drainage of the soil, so there will be
a good stand and the crop can be
worked soon after rains
Third. There must be excellent
preparation of the soil for planting.
Plant as early as the season will per-
nit and be safe.
Fourth Seed of an early matur-
! ing variety must be used; one that
puts out its fruit limbs low on the
stalk and fruits heavily Rows wider
apart than usual. The seed also must
be of the best quality.
, Fifth. Cultivation should be in
tensive
/ Sixth. Do not lay by the cotton
! as usual, but continue to cultivate
until the bolls begin to open. Cot
ton is thus made all the time. If
these rules of producing cotton are
! followed a crop can be made.
In addition to giving rules for the
fight on the boil weevil and the pro-
duction of good cotton crops in the
face of all emergencies DR.. Knapp
advised his hearers not to forget that
cotton is far from the only crop worth
while cultivating He declared the
plantation should produce all the
food necessary for men and live stock,
and that, in addition, the other crops
should pay most of the running ex-
penses of the plantation.
Concluding, he said the delta lands
were the most valuable on the con-
tinent. They were intrinsicaIly
worth 5000 an acre, even if the boil
weevil were an inch deep over every
foot of the soil
According to the Birmingham Age
Herald Mr. Cannon begins to think