The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1913-07-15
COTTON WITH WEEV|L
GOVERNMENT AGENT RECENTLY
IN DAWSON SAYS IT is NO
LONGER PROBLEM.
FIRST YEAR ONLY HARD ONE
Lives i'm WeeviI Section, and Says
He viii Prove to Any One Who
Will Visit Him That Cotton Can
BE Grown at Profit.

BE Grown at Profit.
Mr.. L. M. Calhoun, the district
agent of the United States govern
ment for farm demonstration work
in eastern Louisiana, and who re-
Gently visited Dawson while spending
ten days in Georgia making address
es at farmers institutes, was inter-
viewed by the Montgomery Adyer-
tiser while passing through that city
en- route home. Mr. Calhoun grows
considerable cotton on his farm in
Louisiana, is thoroughly familiar
with the essential practices of pro-
ducing cotton at profit under wee
vii conditions, and what he said
to the Montgomery paper will be
read with interest by our farmers
here:
Beating the boil weevil is no
longer a problem with u.s." said Mr.
Calhoun. 81 live in Franklin par
ish, which is jNst a little further
south than Montgomery county, and
which has labor and climatic condi-
tions practically the same as the
black belt of Alabama. 1t is all bosh
about not being able to make cotton
at a profit on the big plantation un-
der weevil conditions, and further
will prove my statement to any man
who will take the trouble to visit me
at Gilbert, La, this fall. 1t all de-
ponds on the man and his manage
ment If he is a country store-keep-
er instead of a real farmer, or if his
manager is a boss who rides horse
back instead of a man who knows his
job and does it, then his chances with
the weevil are pretty slim. We had
plenty of such land owners when the
weevil hit us, but now they have all
done one of two things: Either they
have reformed their ways or they
have gone out of business. But af-
ter all, they were mostly farming the
negroes instead of the land, and our
country hasn't missed them.
"Our first and only real hard year
with the weevil was 1909 For the
three years previous we had averag-
ed 14,309 bales in Franklin parish.
In 1909 the weeviI hit us full force,
some of our people got scared and
quit, and as result we only ginned
1920 bales. We didn't know as
much about fighting the weevil then
as we dc now, bat son my own place
my son managed to average 1900
pounds of seed cotton per acre on
about 100 acres. To show you how
our parish has recovered, we made
1927 bales in 1911, or practically
full crop. In 1912 all except mar
row ridge through the center of the
parish was overlooked until the mid
die of June, and our crop was neces-
sarily short.
GAS I said before, our big plant
ers are making cotton, and making
it a profit under boil weevil condi-
tions. They are not doing it by sit
ting m the shade, however, but are
on the job from daylight until dark.
We pick our weevils and punctured
squares, beginning about the middle
of May and keeping it up until Au-
gust 1st Our negroes are expected
and required to do this work, just as
much as they are expected to keep
the grass out of their cotton. In this
way it doesn't cost us a cent extra
to produce the crop. 1t is not so
much a question of labor to do this
work, but rather a matter of intelli-
gent control and direction of the
abundance of labor in this state only
works about one-fourth of the time,
any way.
1.-The proof of the pudding is in
the eating, you know. Most of our
big cotton growers are no longer
afraid of the weevil and are making
practically full crops. Last year
most of my district was overlooked
until June, and consequently the crop
was late and short. At present /
recall three men in particular in my
parish who were not overfowed and
who made good crops on large acre
age.
IL. M. Calhoun, Jr., Gilbert, La.
made 80 bales on 120 acres; E. Pen
nebaker, Wisner, La, made 434
bales. averaging 5S2 pounds each, on
465 acres; T. B. Gilbert, Wisner, La,
made 744 bales, averaging 525
pounds each, on 1000 acres.
I'm 1911 L. NJ. Calhoun, Jr., Gill
bert, La, made SO bales on 100
acres; E. Pennebaker, Wisner, La,
made 420 bales on 400 acres; T. B.
Gilbert, Wisner, La, made 1,011
bales, averaging 525 pounds each, on
1880 acres; E. Mason, Mason, La,
made 227 bales on 2f0 acres, and
Col. F. L. Maxwell, Mound, La,
averaged 800 pounds of lint cotton
per acre on several thousand acres.
Now, bear in mind that these
yields were made with negro labor,
on big plantations, and under wee
vii conditions. 1 would like for any
man who is skeptical to write any or
all of these parties have named.
Then, If he is still from Missouri. !
f.,xy;se Fgu. - x,fs;4 mo an <san+au, 1,o,.