The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1913-09-23
MIR. HOFFMAN SAYS LOUISIANA
FARMERS ARE PROSPEROUS.
DiVersificatiOn Put Them on Road to
Better Things. Can Raise Cotton
by Waging Eternal Warfare.

by Waging Eternal Warfare.
Editor Dawson News: l see in
The News that a party of citizens
from Dawson and Terrell county
have been out in Mississippi to inves-
tigate the boil weevil conditions in
that state, and have returned very
much discouraged.
Now, let me say that your people
need not be alarmed over the coming
of the boil weevil. We have had
them with us now seven years, and
the county is in better condition than
it has been since the civil war. Be-
fore the boil weevils came the farm
ers raised all cotton and bought corn,
meat, hay, syrup and mules to make
cotton. But now we sell corn, hogs,
cattle, hay, syrup, ship and sell sweet
and Irish potatoes, and keep enough
of these things to supply the farms.
And with all this we are improving
our land When we were raising
cotton and a few acres of corn we
were satisfied with Is to 20 bushels
of corn per acre But now we think
nothing of raising 40 to 60 bushels
of corn to the acre, and other crops
except cotton in proportion. Cotton
we cannot raise prof1tably. Before
the boil weevils came we raised 1000
to 1900 pounds of seed cotton per
acre with 200 pounds of fertilizer,
three hoeings and four plowings.
Now we use 400 to 900 pounds OF
fertilizer per acre, one to two hoe
ings and eight to ten plOwings, and
we make 600 to 1000 pounds of seed
cotton to the acre if the weather is
hot and dry in July and August. If
we have very much rain in these
months the weevils puncture all the
squares AMI then puncture the bolls.
When picking begins you get one,
two and three locks to the boil
Now, Mr.. Editor, I am an old man
and an old farmer; have been farm
ing so years and have never had
anything to contend with in my farm
ing that puzzles me like the boil
weevils. l have watched them close
Iy, ad about the only thing that we
have ever found that will kill the
adult weevil is fire. Hot dirt will
kill the grub or larvae in the square.
They first attack the young cotton In
the bud leaf, and after the squares
begin to come you see no more Of
them until the squares begin to turn
yellow and drop off. They hatch out
more weevils, which continue punct-
uring and Matching until frost. How
ever, if your farmers viii begin to
prepare for them by raising plenty OF
corn, meat, cattle for beef and but
ter, poultry, hay, syrup, sweet and
Irish potatoes, peas, mules and
horses in a few years you viii think
so little of the boil weevils that you
will seldom ever speak or hear of
them.
| was born and raised on the farm
and have lived on the farm all my
life. and l have never known a more
independent man than the farmer
who raises all of his supplies on the
farm, and if he has a surplus to sell
he usually has money in the bank.
Now, I will give you our method
of farming. We break deep in the
fall. Plant oats or rye for cover
crop and for pasture. If the land is
high and drains well we plant on
low fat bed and cultivate shallow
and often-once every six or eight
ESPECIALLY cotton. Frequent
blowing keeps the punctured squares
knocked off and covered in the dirt,
and if the dirt is hot and fine the
larvae die in two or three hours. II
the land is wet the squares decay in
three or four days, and those that
are not ready to hatch out die as the
squares rot We give distance
enough so the sun can shine on all
sides of the plant. Hot sun is death
to the weevils, but shade is the life
of them.
AS am taking up too much space
/ will close and write again before
long. ]. n. HOFFMAN.
Hortman, La, Sept. %, 1918.