The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1914-02-10
Mr.. Knapp On The WeeviI,

| United States bureau of plant indus
try, who came direct from Washing
ton to make an address on farm
demonstration work.
Il hope you Georgians will profit
by what has gone before, take the
examples set by the other states
where the boil weevil has been and
mix brains with muscle. Farm dem
onstration work and the boil weevil
are the two most vital issues before
the country today, yet the boil Wee
vii will prove a pest only to the
community that is not ready for it, ="
stated Mr.. Knapp He continued:
THE remedy is mixing brains with
soil and a good bit of elbow grease.
The returns from the soil will be in
proportion to the amount of intelli-
gence with which labor is applied to
the soil"
Mr.. Knapp answered two questions
on which he declared the situation
hinges:
First: How is the farmer to meet
the boil weevil?
Second: What can the business
interests of Georgia do to meet the
pest?
In answering the first question Mr..
Knapp cited the facts set forth on
poster gotten out by the Georgia
Chamber showing that millions of
dollars are being sent out annually
for mules, corn, feedstuffs, canned
goods and other articles, all of which
could be produced in Georgia.
THE first thing to do when the
boil weevi1 comes is to cut down the
advances you have been asking from
your merchant and banker and grow
what you need at home. Increase
your acreage of feedstuffs and de-
crease your cotton acreage.
''The boil weevil first lays eggs in
the bankers vault and in the mer-
chants safe; panic follows among
the people not prepared and disas-
ter is inevitable, if there is no organ
lied effort to meet it."
He told how the boil WeeVl hiber-
mates IN the winter season; how they
live from sixty to seventy days; how
they feed on the cotton squares and
on cotton alone.
Poisons have been used, Mr..
Knapp explained, to kill the boil
weevil, but have been found unsat-
isfactory and expensive. He advised
picking up the squares as soon as
they have been punctured and fall
off, and advised that they be burned.
Speaking of burning the stalks in
the fall, he insisted that they be
plowed under instead of burned, as
the humus is needed in the soil.
1--WE hear about early planting and
late planting" said Mr.. Knapp. 'The
only satisfactory method is to plant
when the cotton will grow best, and
chat is to be judged from the COM
munity itself. Early developing seed
should be chosen. That is false
doctrine of late planting"
He declared that some people
blame the boil weevil for everything
from unreasonable weather to legis-
lative matters. He styled the boil
weeyil "our friend" and declared
that after the weevil visits a state
the farmers are forced to observe
certain fundamentals which finally
result in a more Independent commu-
nifty.
Mr.. Knapp divided the cotton re-
gion into three distinct parts, the
southern third, the central third and
the northern third, so naming them
according to the damage that is done
them by the weev1.
This is the first public statement
I have made about this classical
tion," he said THE southern third
of the cotton regions suffers most
from the weevil; the central or mid
die third not so bad, and the north
third is little affected, unless after a
warm winter.
THE southern third, therefore,
should provide some cash crop be-
sides cotton. At times in the central
third there will be hard times, but
as a general rule the farmers can win
out if intelligence is exercised"
In answering the question Of what
an be done to check the advance of
he weevil Mr.. Knapp declared moth
ing could be done by talking alone.
/ <Norforonooc opJ ,OpotipCS will ar