The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1913-08-22
IS ALMOST WIPED OUT
CORNER GEORGIAN TELLS WHAT
pOII, WEEVIL HAS DONE FOR
LOUISIANA COTTON.
KIND OF HOPELESS FEELING

In One County Crop Has Fallen From
$4,000 to $500 Bales. Countie~
Combine and Hire Expert Agri'
cultural Commissioners.
COLUMBUS, Ga.-Frank Flour
nov who has been away from this
,itv for fifteen years, is here from
Ganron Miss, visiting friends and
relatives.
Mr. Flournoy has been prominent
IN the fight il. his state against the
hoI1 weevil, which has practically de-
s+roved the cotton crops of that state
and almost completely wiped out the
cotton of the state of Louisiana. He
was seen by a representative of the
rodgor and asked concerning the eX-
,ant of the damage already done and
what the farmers and people Of his
adoDted state were doing to exter-
inmate the cotton weevil.
Mr.. Flournoy stated that the Unit
cd States government had offered a
reward of 100000 for the first sue
cessfnl remedy for the pest, and a
great many different things are being
done to attempt to stop the progress
of the weevil. $50 far" said Mr.
F1ournoy, "the only thing found to
kill the weevil would kill the cotton
We have had the weevil five years
and during that time it has destroyed
ffrv per cent of the cotton crops. The
only remedy found yet is early plant
ing fast cultivation and smaller acre
age.
Where we used to cultivate about
fifteen acres with one mule this is
cut down to seven or eight acres
and still we are not able to keep UP
with the damage done by the weevlI'
In Lincoln county the wagon cot
ton has fallen off from $4,000 bales
to a mere $500 bales for the season
in a time of three years, and the
same deterioration found in this
county is found all over the state,
with the exception of few counties
that have not suffered so much, but
still these counties are suffering also
1T is a government estimate that
the female weevil will lay eight hun
bred eggs in three weeks time, in
the cotton squares, and that three
hundred of these eggs will hatch, and
the estimate further says that one
female weevil will produce 28,O0O
weevils in one season, so you can see
what We have to contend with when
we start out to wipe them out.
The weevil will crawl into the
squares, because they are tender, and
lay their eggs. They will not attack
the boil when the squares are avail
able. Each farmer has men to 60
through the entire cotton fields once
week, and sometimes oftener, pick
ing off the damaged squares and pick
ing up those which have fallen and
burn them up. In this way some OF
the damage has been stopped.
las soon as the squares form the
weevil begins to puncture them and
make them fall from the plant, which
of course exterminates the bloom and
so of course there are no bolls. The
cotton in the state of Louisiana is
practically wiped out. it being nearly
impossible to grow cotton in the state
to any extent, and it is being given
up 1t is a kind of hopeless feeling
and unless something is done and
some remedy found to stop the weevil
the cotton crop of tie South is doom
ed. This will take time. but it is
coming.
In the county in which live and
IN a number of other counties we
nave hired the services of an expert
agriculture commissioner, whose bus
mess it is to ride over the country
and instruct the farmers in proper
farming and in the means which are
now available for fighting the weevil
We pay this man a salary of $500
Tor the cotton season. Institutes are
being held over the state and the
government is doing whatever it can
TO meet the danger. In time We ex-
pect to find some remedy, but at the
present the only thing is the early
planting, fast cultivation and smaller
acreage, with careful watching.
WeeviI to Hit Georgia.
You will get the weevil IN this
state, and will get it pretty soon. 1t
IS coming, and I see no way of stop
ping it. Already the country around
selma, Ala, in infected with the
Weeyil, and it has approached to
within two or three counties of the
1eorgia-Alabama line. 1 am told that
parts of Southwest Georgia are now
affected"