The Starkville news. (Starkville, Miss.) 1902-1960, 1911-04-21
DEAD.

Washington, d. c.. April 10th, Pres
ident w. w. Finley of the Southern
Railway Company has addressed the fol-
lowing letter to the farmers of the South:
'.The death of DR.. Seaman A. Knapp,
of the United States Agricultural De-
partnrent, which occurred in Washing
ton, D. c., on the 1st instant, has been
a great loss to the farmers OF the Unit
ed States and especially to those of the
Southern States.
DR.. Knapp understood thoroughly the
agricultural problems of the South, and
as the official in charge of the Farmers
Cooperative Demonstration Work of
the Department, it may be said, COM
prehensively speaking, that he did more
than any other man in our time to
bring about the adoption of improved
agricultural methods in the South, X
When the Mexican cotton boil weevil
begpn to spread over the fields of Texas
and there were predictions that it would
render cotton production Improbable
in all of the territory to which 1t might
spread, DR.. Knapp devoted himself to
solving the problem of maintaining cot
ton production in spite of the presence
of that insect. He and those who were
cooperating with him in this work
were soon able to demonstrate that cot
ton could be grown prottably under
boil weevi conditions, and that, simply
by the adoption of proper cultural me-
thods, farmers could in some localities
at least, grow more cotton per acre with
the weevll in their fields than they had
produced before it's appearance. AS
result, by the time the weevil hau
; spread eastward to the Mississippi river
the farmers of the South has been edu-
Gated up to the knowledge that, by fol-
lowing intelligently the advice given by
Dr. Knapp, it's destructiveness could De
greatly reduced. DR.. Knapp was an
apostle of good farming in every de-
partment. He taught the value of fall
blowing with deep breaking of the
ground, of growing winter cover crops,
and of building up soil fertility of the
proper rotation of crops and by the in
telligent use of manures and CONNER
cial fertilizers He believed in growing
live stock, at least to the extent of util-
izing all the waste products and idle
land of the farm, and in producing ON
each farm, as far as possible, all OF the
foods required by the men and animals
on the farm.
One feature of DR.. Knapp's work
which l believe to be of inestimable val
ne to the South was his organization
of Boys Corn Clubs. While the imme-
date purpose of these clubs is the grow
lug of corn, they are performing much
more valuable work for the South in
the growing of farmers. There full
| value to our section will be realized
when DIR. Knapp's Corn Club boys, as
growp-up farmers, apply the same meth
DDS of intensive farming TO other crops
and to entire farms that they have US
ed in making record yields of corn sim
| gle acres.
While doing so much for the boys OF
the South, DR.. Knapp did not negiect
the girls, and the organization OF Ine
Girls Tomato Club at Aiken, 5. C., last
season marked the beginning OF a
/ work which has been greatly enlarged
for this season and which, at the time
of his death, he was preparing still
futher to expand.
/ feel sure that voice the sentiments
of the farmers of the South and of all
the Southern peoplein expressing the
loninion that DIR. Seaman A. Knapp
/ was one of the most useful citizens OF
the United States in his generation. and
that. in his death, our whole section has
suffered a great loss,"