The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1911-05-08
not yet It's customers.

Editor News:
l desire to warn the people of For
rest county, through your paper, of the
danger to the prosperity of our sec
ton of the country, by the destruction
of the cotton crop of the county, this
year, by the boil weevil. The weevil has
already made its appearance and is be-
ginning to feed upon the young tender
cotton, ready to begin the work of
destruction, by depositing its eggs in
the young squares as soon as they
begin to form on the cotton stalks.
As local demonstration agent for
this county, l have made it my busi-
ness to study this question and | know
that there can be made fairly good
crop of cotton in this county, yet, II
the farmers can be made to realize
what the boil weevil will do to their
crops if they do not put forth the
proper effort to check them in their
work of destruction.
If they would carry out government
instructions, by thinning out their cot
ton in the drill, to one stalk in the
hill and give plenty distance between
the hills, so that the sun could shine
upon the ground and keep the grass
and weeds down, so that the weevils
would not have place to get into to
protect them from the direct rays of
the hot sun, and destroy the first
weevils that appear on the young cot
ton, pick. up the fallen squares for at
least one month after the first ones
fall, and do everything possible to re-
tard their increase, as long as possible,
cotton can be made in spite of them.
History of the Work.
The history of the work of the boil
weevil in Texas, Louisiana and West
Mississippi is, that if the farmers con-
tinue the same methods Of raising cot
ton that have been to a large extent
followed in the past, such as narrow
rows, cotton left to close in the drill,
so that the cotton will lock in the
, rows, making a shady place for the
, weevils to work in, and careless cult
, walton, it means that the things are
! being done that will increase the
, chances for the destruction of the cot
! ton crop. May the Lord help the PEG
;. pie to wake up and begin to study
: about these things and begin now t.
do something, as it will be too late
g when these things have been neglect
!. ed.
Cotton the Money Crop.
Cotton, as We all know, is the mon
ey crop of the South, and we mus
Il make it, it can be done, it has beel
i done, and we must do it, There is n
q other crop that can take the place @
l. cotton with the people Of the Soutf
le as money crop. The destruction G
II the cotton crop of Forrest county thi
year means a great deal more tina
the average man seems to be able t
comprehend. 1t means that a gres
many of our people, who are in deb
are not going to be able to meet the
obligations this fall, it makes no di
ference how good their intention ma
~ be, and some of them will probabl
lose their homes as a consequence.
a means that credit to attempt to gro
another crop, will be hard to get ar
If. some will not get any at all. It meal
ou that the merchant will not be able
sell his goods.
r. It means that the fertilizer factori'
cannot sell their fertilizers because Il
farmers have no money with which
~ buy and no prospect of any, becaui
their money crop. cotton. has bee
'r- destroyed and confidence with It.
But on the other hand, II we CO
be get good per cent Of our farmers
od make cotton this year under boil we
"a vii conditions, II means the restoratit
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