Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1911-04-06
FIGHT BOIL WEEV|L
S0utherners Turn to Other Crops
in War on Pest.
Cotton Acreage Reduced as Much as
Possible While Corn Is Gaining
in FaVor-Truck Gardens
and Alfalfa Profitable.

Birmingham. Ala-Crop dfversif-
cation is the weapon farmers of Ala
Dama have chosen with which to COM
bat the inroads expected this year
from the boil weevil Already the
cotton pest has been reported in the
southwestern corner OF the state, and
it is expected its march across the
commonwealth will proceed this sum
mer at the usual rate of speed.
While every precaution has been
taken and while the legislature has
passed a bill donating $4,000 to the
entomologists to assist in the war on
the weevil, Alabama farmers are
aware that the damage to the cotton
crop by the little insect necessarily
will be large, and in order = lessen
Its effects as much as possible the
acreage of cotton will be reduced and
land hitherto devoted exclusively to
the southern staple this year will
yield other products
Along the Florida line extensive
truck gardens are being planted, and
it is the belief of the landowners that
the profits therefrom will be greater
than if the soil were turned over to
cotton, as has been the case in the
past. Ready markets are afforded at
Mobile, Montgomery and Birming
ham for Alabama-raised truck, and it
is believed that the Florida product
will meet with serious competition.
For many years strawberry culture
has been a most profitable enterprise
in the sections around Cullman, In
north Alabama, and Castleberry, in
south Alabama. These berries are
nearly perfect specimens of their
kind, and top prices are paid for
them in Baltimore, Philadelphia and
other cities of the east 1t is thought
the strawberry crop this year will be
by far the largest ever raised in Ala
bama, and that the profit will be
correspondingly greater
Recently the Birmingham chamber
Of commerce inaugurated a farm
movement that promises to result
most beneficial1y to jefferson and
surrounding counties Steel iron and
coal corporations p This district own
many thousands of acres of land
which at the present time lie abso-
lutely idle, and these corporations
have agreed to rent them to settlers
at price virtually gratis It is the
| intention of the promoters of the
scheme to obtain settlers who are
familiar with the raising Of truck to
take advantage Of these liberal offers
In the last five years extra atten-
ton has been paid to the culture of
corn in Alabama, and as a result
there has been an appreciate in
crease in the net yield per acre. With
the increase in the production of corn
has come more attention to the rails
ing of cattle and hogs
In each Of the congressional dis
tricts of Alabama there is a school
devoted to intoxicating the principles
Of scientific agriculture. These in
situations have been literally sup
ported by the state, despite the pro-
tests Of backwoods legislators, who
inveighed weightily against new
tangled" methods. The wisdom of
this policy of liberality Is now being
demonstrated.
A yearly feature of the work of
these agricultural schools has been
the formation of boys corn clubs"
prizes being offered to the boys who
succeed in obtaining the greatest
yield from an acre planted in com,
and preparing a statement setting
forth the method employed, the time
and number Of plowings; the amount
of fertilizers used and when applied;
the kind of seed planted and the
method Of its selection, etc.
Although in its infancy in this
state, the growing of alfalfa has be-
come one Of the staple industries of
Alabama. In the counties of the CEN
trail western division alfalfa has al
most driven cotton from the field.
The Alabama product compares
fayorably with that of the western
states.