Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-06-22
FINE WEATHER
HELPS COTTON
ALL OVER BELT
Boil WeeviI Only Serious Menace,
Acreage Estimates Now Agree
on Small Increase.

/ MEMPHIS. June Warm sun
shine in abundance and enough mois-
ture practically everywhere have
caused the cotton crop during the
/ past week to make satisfactory prog
resS. There are evidences still of too
little moisture awhile back and Of
| the recent week-lOng cool spell, but
q continuation of present conditions
soon will blot out a lot Of damage
and cause revision Of ideas as to
yield. Reports reaching here during
the week have been more optimistic
and the main complaint has been
that the plant is small and in some
sections irregular in size. Clean
fields are universally reported and the
soil has been put into good shape
for rains later on to have full eff
feet. So far as advices here go,
there is no serious lack Of labor and
cultivation has been at d minimum
expense. There was no great amount
of replanting necessary in this sec
ton of the belt and the crop perhaps
is as evenly advanced taking the
belt as a whole. as in many years.
II will take time for this one to
two weeks hardness to be overcome
/ and II remains to be seen how well
the plant will be prepared to with
stand the trying time Of the usual
summer drouth. The feeling at this
center is that the crop has improved
since the Government report was
made up May % by several points.
There is no doubt of it so far as the
territory close to the city is con-
cerned and some of the best pros
poets in years are seen here.
There is one danger. however, in
part of the central belt 1t is the
boil weevil and the time is at hand
when the test is to be faced. AdviCes
from the lower part of Mississippi
and Louisiana tell of the presence Of
the pest in large numbers and il is a
question whether efforts will avail 70
reduce the number so that the yield
will be anything like it ought to be.
Much depends on how the number
of weevils can be kept down during
the egg laying period. Government
agents and others are rendering ev-
cry aid possible in the campaign. but
already some sections say that plant
ers are losing heart because of the
| odds against them So far there are
| few complaints as to the pest in the
| Delta sections. and in Arkansas the
weevil is said TO be comparatively
scarce.
Acreage ideas are converging
around an increase of 8 to per cent
| over last years revised figures. which
would give something less than the
amount for two years ago. when the
! crop was over 100000 bales How
| ever, the estimate of the New York
! Financial Chronicle is that the
acreage is the largest ever known.
The movement Of the remnant of
| the old crop has become very light
| and consequently the small demand
| for the actual has not interfered
with the bull campaign. Interior
stocks have been losing their excess
over a year ago, as shipments have
been larger relatively Quotations
have been advanced generally from
Is to Ia cent to from II rs to
! . 9-l6 cents for middIing, and quo
tatiOns are still way above a deliver
able parity as compared with New
, York contracts
There seems little hope of stock in
that center being increased and shorts
in the summer months will be at the
mercy of the bull interests There
has been moderate business in this
center but unsold stock is reduced
to about 10000 bales and very little
is coming in.
The recent activity among spinning
interests in buying new crop con-
tracts against their needs of raw
material in the early fall leads to the
opinion that they surely will make
big inroads on the available supply
of the old during the rest Of the
summer, although there has been
some check to the advance in the
nearby contracts, encouraged by the
enormous premiums ruling