The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1914-01-28
The WEEYIL'S WORK
bow IT HAS DEVASTATED -FOUR
OF TIE COTTON STATES
MENACES entire CROP

Probable Effect if it Invades Ala
bama, Georgia and South Caroins
Has Already Ravaged its Wa!
Through Mississippi, Louisiana
Arkansas and Texas.
The cotton boil weevil has caused
I the United States in excess of 10,
100000 bales, which, at a value O.
a loss in the production of cotton II
$50 a bale, represents financial los:
of 100000, 1000. This is only the
! loss in areas actually planted. The
reduction in the production of cottor
due to the fact that farmers refrain
ed from planting because Of the feal
that the weevil would not allow the
plant to mature can never be esti
mated.
These and other interesting facts
and statistics concerning the boil
weevil are given in a little pocket
pamphlet just issued by Director "
! J. Harris, of the census bureau de-
partment of commerce. Summary fol
lows:
Mississippi-In seven selected
counties Of Mississippi the produc'
ton of cotton in 1907 amounted tc
1870 bales, valued at nearly S11,'
100000. The boil weevil reduced
this production to S9,577 bales in
1909; to 61,432 in 1910; to 37,S16
bales in 1911, and to 30,S09 bales in
1912. The aggregate production for
the four years amounted to 219,634
bales, valued at approximately s14,'
100000. Had the crop of 1907 been
pro iced for each Of these years the
aggregate would have exceeded I61,-
900 bales, valued at about s4S,6o0,-
600. Many farmers in these counties
abandoned entirely the attempt to
produce cotton. he majority of the
farm laborers have been thrown out
of employment and emigrated to 9TH
er places.
Observation-Disclosures largest cot
ton crop, 1,Os9,526 bales, was grown
in 1904. The production was reduced
to 245,64S bales in 1910. This great
loss was due principally to the raw
ages of the boil weevil. In ten of the
large cottn producing parishes the
crop amounted to 215,01S bales, val
ued at s15,OO0,000, during the year
Immediately preceding the advent OF
the weevil in each Of these parishes.
he aggregated production of these
ten parishes for the following four
wears amounted to only 211,253 bales
valued at approximately s13,500,0OO.
Had the production. equaled that OF
the year preceding the coming of the
weevil, it would have amounted to
l,O24,072 bales, valued at s65,0OO,-
900. The loss loss to the cotton grow
ers in these ten parishes, attributed
| very largely to the boil weevil, am
mounted to more than s50,000,00 for
the four years.
Arkansas-During 1906, 1907 and
1908 the boil weevil was dispersed
over an area covering about one-thlrd
of the State of Arkansas. In four Sc
: lected counties of the State the crop
for 1905 amounted to 73,426 bales.
BY 1909 the crop of these counties
had been reduced by the weevll to
26,962 bales, and in 1910 it was 36,-
1876 bales. The aggregate value of the
two crops was about s4,5OO,OO0,
whereas had each equaled the crop OF
1906 the cotton for these counties
would have brought them more than
s10,000,000.
Texas-The boil weevil first ap-
peared in the State Of Texas in 1882,
and during the next fifteen years
caused an enormous loss in the cot
ton crop of the State. In seven select
ed counties in the northwest section
of the State the production in 1906
amounted to 232,063 bales. This was
redced to 114,701 bales in 1907; to
153,347 bales in 1908 and to 145, ,7o2
bales in 1909. The aggregate value OF
the three crops in these counties
amounted to about S24,000.0O0. II
the production Of 1906 had been
maintained the value would have
been approximately s4o,00o,o00.
Alabama-The boil weevil now
covers the southern portion of Ala
bama. Selecting six counties in the
eastern part Of the State, which are
in the direct path Of the weevil, the
production during five years has
amounted to 1925 bales, which
sold for about s45,000,000. If the
ravages of the weevil in these coun-
ties should result in reducing the
production in the same proportion as
, in the selected counties in Mississippi
the cotton produced during the four
seasons following the spread of the
weevil throught these counties would
amount to 100000 bales, and the fl
nancial loss, computed at $50 pei
bale, would be more than s22, 1000
Georgia-Selecting five important
cotton producing counties in western
Georgia, which are also in the path
of the weevil, the loss in the produc-
ton during the four seasons follow
ing the invasion of the insects would
range from 100000 bales, based on
the experience of the counties in Tex
as, to $500 to 100000 bales. based
on the production in the selected
counties in Mississippi and the par
ishes in Louisiana, respectively. The
resulting financial loss in these coun-
tie would be. therefore, from S1O,,
100000 to 19,500,G00.
co,4b Toro1ino o-Tha or01uction Oi