The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1911-06-24
THE COTTON BOIL WEEVIL
How the Southern Planters Have Fought
the Pest and Made Money From
the Crops---Practical Gov
eminent Aid in
the Battle

animals and their feed, and to have
one patch which should be planted to
cotton to furnish the cash for the ram
lily. This last fitted in with the condi-
tiOns, for the boil weevil destroys
credit wherever it goes and the farm
ers are compelled to raise oJner things
in order to live.
The work began in Texas in 1904
and it has now spread throughout the
South. The government has $50 agents
in the cotton belt and more than U.s.
900 demonstration farms, upon which
the planters, under the weekly direc
ton Of these agents and their assist
ants, are raising cotton after govern
ment methods. In the boil weevil re-
gion there are county clubs of such
farmers, and the stories of the sue
cess Of their members have taken the
place of politics as a topic of CONVEX
sation.
The government agent selects, as
far as possible, the best farmers and
asks them to plant out an acre of cot
ton at some conspicuous place on his
estate 1t is, if possible, at a cross
roads, or at least near some road so
that the people may see the results
as they go by. A sign marking the
spot as a government farm is put up,
and this place is visited by the farm
ers for miles around and the opera
lions carefully watched. At the start
the farmers are always slleptical and
it is difficult to get them to make the
experiment After the first year, how
ever, they are anxious to try, and the
demonstration farms multiply. In
hundreds of counties this work has
revolutionized the methods of farm
ing, and men who were practically
bankrupt have become rich. The de-
posits in the savings banks have
increased and new banks are b9;ng
started in nearly all such regions.
The credit system is on the decline.
The planters are raising their own
supplies, and with many of them the
cotton receipts are almost all clear
gain.
While at the department of agricul-
ture l had a long talk with two of
Uncle Sans agents who have been in
charge of this cooperative demonstra-
ton farm work for the bureau of plant
industry of the department of agri-
culture. Each has his own territory,
through which he moves about from
state to state and county to county,
the demonstrators and
their hundreds of agents. These men
are w. B. MERCER and H. e. Savely,
both of Mississippi. They tell me that
they are raising more cotton than ever
before in the sections where the DEM
onstration work is, and that last year
on $4,000 acres which were cultivated
under such directions a total of ~
Co., 900 pounds of seed cotton was
raised, making an average of 800
pounds TO the acre. In North Caro- |
lima, where there is no weevil as yet, !
1900 pounds of seed cotton have been
raised on one acre, making a crop
which, with lint and seed, was worth |
S195. These demonstration farms !
have shown mighty increase in pro- !
duction over all others about where |
the old methods of farming were
used, and in most localities they are
showing a profit of SIS per acre over
that Of their neighbors.
In one of the worst weevil districts
f. l.. Maxwell of Louisiana grew $50
pounds of lint to the acre on plan
tation of 1000 acres, and this on land
which is said to be especially favor
able to weevil production.
This demonstration work is revolu-
tionizing the South. Both young and
old have been each given an acre upon
which to raise cotton, and there are
now boy cotton clubs as well as boy
corn clubs. These acre farms are to
be seen everywhere, and the poor
farmer cannot help knowing the big
yields of his neighbors,
The government is trying TO get the
very best farmers to make the expert
ments. The agents pick out those
who are noted for their success and
common sense and ability, In many
cases they persuade the older plant
ers to engage in the work, and that
with great difficulty Take, for in
stance, one old Georgia farmer, who
had been growing crops after the ordl-
nary methods for forty years. The
man stood high in his community, and
it took much persuasion to get him to
promise to set out an acre, and work
it on the new plan. About two weeks