The Port Gibson reveille., 1911-06-01
9 Spubltcopinion s;
Be vIgIIant, Be Quick, Be Thor
ough.

become falrly numerous III pFacu-
cally all the fields in the infested
territory, review of some of the
principal points of value in making
the fight against them should be of
interest to all who are dependent
on cotton as a money crop.
The necessity for extreme vIgi-
lance is apparent now. AS rule,
the over-wintered weevils will be
found much more numerous in the
neighborhood of favorable hiber
mating places. The quick discovery
and approximate location of these
heavily infested points is of untold
value to the man who does not ex.
pect to risk his chances of making
a cotton crop to the vicissitudes of
the seasons alone, but who be-
lieves that his own efforts will de.
termine largely the measure of his
success in making cotton under
boil weevil conditions.
There are number of reasons
indicating the advantage to be
gained by this early vigilance. In
the first place, the sooner the weev-
lis are found, the easier they are
gathered and destroyed; while the
cotton is small and before fruiting
begins very much larger area can
be covered by each worker and
much larger percentage of weevils
actually present can be found than
later when the cotton has made
more growth. BY beginning early,
the spots OF heaviest infestation
can be located more certainly and
more time and attention can be
given to these spots than can be
done later.
BY beginning early, such large
of weevils will have
been destroyed before many. squares
have formed that the later work of
picking punctured squares, anoth
er thing of vital importance, will
be very much lessened. Every
square saved from destruction now
means not only fewer weevils to
fight, but that many more bolls of
cotton in the fall. If it were pos
sible to pick the weevils SO care
fully and so thoroughly, even
though the expense was greatly in
creased, that no squares would be
punctured up to June 25th, the
chances are that this year would
show practically no damage from
weevils until after the migratory
period comes on.
The failure of many farmefs in
the past was directly traceable to
lack of thoroughness; they did not
reduce the infestation to that mini.
mum that is necessary to insure a
profitable crop of cotton, especial
" in a wet year.
There is reason to believe that
this early vigilance aud thorough |
ness of work will be more effective
this year than in past years. The
weevils were forced into hiberna-
ton three weeks earlier than the
average date; the, winter was par
open and mild; all crops
are advanced at least two weeks
more than in the average year. It'll
seems certain that a larger percent
age of weevils under such condi-
tlons would come out early than
was the case last year, and that
the period of emergence would be
shorter this year. If this be true,
early and thorough work ought to
destroy such a large percentage
that the later stages OF the fight
would be much easier than was the
case last year.
The most skeptical are now con
vinced that tar more work is re-
quired to produce a crop of cotton
than was necessary to attain fair
yields prior to the coming of the
weevil. In series of years, the
same methods of cultivation that
give best results now were profit
able before the coming of the.
weevil. In exceptional years. so
much cultivation was not absolute
ly necessary.
The problem for each individual
to solve is whether he can afford
to depend on cultivation alone,
and in the event Of long wet
spell in Iulv. see his careful work