Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-09-21
Bankers and Merchants Can Save
Georgia FROM Big Boil Weevil Loss
Credit Should Be Refused Except Limited Amount of Cotton and
Then Only When Right Fighting Pest Employed
By CHARLES A. WHITTLE.
Georgia state college of Agriculture

to the farmer The banker and mer-
7 chant ought TO go slow in creditins
cotton growers until experiments in a
| limited way demonstrate what can
| be reasonably expected Of profit for
! each community.
| The banker and merchant Of GeOr-
| gia are not going to find parallel con-
ditions for their guidance in Louis
| lana. Texas and Mississippi, unless
| they can find it in some particular
community where conditions are ex-
actly similar Texas Is so entirely diff
| ferent as 10 be of scarcely any value.
| The Weevil will never be an afflction
| in Texas that II will be in Georgia.
In Louisiana the weevil is as bad as
he will ever be in Georgia, perhaps a
little worse on account OF the ranker
cotton vegetation and favorable win
ter quarters for the weevil in Spanish
moss. but the lands Of Louisiana are
50 much more fertile, the expense Of
fertilizer Mill, that the growers Of cot
ton can get from three-duarters OF a
bale to a bale an acre with the weevil
present. provided the insect is prop
erly opposed Georgia lands, as an
average, are not so fertile and pro-
ductive. and what with the cost Of
fertilizer and perhaps the higher cost
OF fighting the weevil, the cotton
saved may prove short Of paying eX-
penses.
Loss in Some States.
Internationally there is cotton n
Mississippi and Alabama which would
not more than pay for its growing
were the weevil not present The ex-
pense Of fighting the weevil has been
added and the cotton is loss. The
tenants who have grown 1t are max
ing a living working by wage for saw
mills or for farmers who have diversa-
fed crops
with all the enlightenment that can
be received from States that have
faced and contested the boil weevil
problem, II remains for each COM
munity to meet it's own phase of the
problem. How to fight the weevil
can be learned from the outside, but
whether It win pay to continue to
grow cotton has to be determined by
experience.
While the last word about how to
fight the boil weevil may not have yet
been said, the merchant and banker
would do well to be conservative and
recommend only such methods rs
have been thoroughly tried by farm
ers and found the most useful.
Every uTuHltitIs buSlltAS man. IT,
will be ready on every occasion to al
vance a theory. Some may claim that
they know it has worked. While there
can be no harm done in experiment
ing, provided well-known methods are
continued, II is dangerous to rely
upon any other than the most ap-
proved way The Federal farm dem
onstration work has recommended the
plan which farmers say Is practical
and which plan they almost univsr-
sally adopt The farm demonstra-
ton agents of Western Georgia are
prepared to tell the farmers what this
plan is and how it must be applied
Bankers Should Get Busy.
It necessarily follows that If the
bankers and farmers take the stand
that they will finance only a limited
amount Of cotton they will be asked
what crops they win finance. Are the
bankers and merchants prepared 10
answer the question? Local cOndi-
lions will make different answers.
ure Unless the banker and merchant
have worked out the problem, now is
the time to get ready They should
make no mistakes The information
on which they should base their 1d-
vice should be from the best possible
source. The information may not be
available in their county. AS a rule,
there are only a few men who have
studied agriculture in its broadcast ap-
plication, who know soils, crop
adaptability, marketing possibilities,
that can give intelligent answers, The
local bankers and merchants would
10 well to get in touch with heads of
agricultural colleges and get the ben