The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1915-12-15
PrOfited by Boil WeeviI
How Mississippi Mastered and ProGted By Bdl Weevil
(y 7. Larry Gantt)
By T. Larry Gantt.)
Observation-Disclosures

Editor Constitution: Since the
publication of my article on the cot
ton boil weevil in the Constitution,
/ have received a number of letters
and postal cards from different sec
tons of Georgia, many asking fur
Their information about the pest.
Among the number vas one from
my old friend Jim Price. Jim says
that Georgia never has been downed,
and they intend to whip Mr.. Weevil,
even if it becomes necessary to
screen their cotton fields.
In my first letter I gave your peo-
pie tie dark side of the picture, and
1 will now write about the brighter
side. 1 believe that the boil weevil
will prove a blessing in disguise to
the South, and do for our farmers
what Abraham Lincoln did for the
negro: Emancipate them from the
domination of the western grain
grower and meat raiser. But for
the appearance of the little critter
in our fields, I believe that the South
would today be raising something
like 25,000,000 bales of cotton, the
staple selling from three or four
cents. And, furthermore, I do not
think the pest will play much havoc
in the upper counties of Georgia,
for it is a tropical insect and does
not flourish among rocks and red
clay. But from, say, Hancock coun-.
ty southwark farmers had as well
make up their minds to abandon cot
ton as the chief money crop and
plant their fields in something else,
and if they do plant cotton, to re-
duce the acreage at least 80 per
cent, for every stalk must be are
fully picked each ten days for weev-
lis; and this is a work that the darby
will not do. If cotton is grown un-
der boil weevil conditions it must be
with white labor. In this county l
do not believe that ten bales are
raised by negroes. They will plant
plow and hoe cotton, but will not do
the ~painstaking work required to
keep down the insect pest. So my
advice to farmers in the infested ter
ritory is to only plant what cotton
they a look after with white la
Dor. In this county you can't hire
the darby for love OF money to
make cotton
What Mississippi Has Done.
But l want to show your people
what the farmers of this Jones
county, Mississippi) have achieved
in the way of independence and pros
perity, after their country has been
invaded for some six years by the
cotton boil weevil. In order to do
this, it will be necessary for me to
give a brief sketch of this county.
When the wal Jour civil war; was
started, there YER only some $50
people in Jones county, and we now
have over 100000 inhabitants, fully
80 per cent whites. Every ten
years the county has doubled in
population, and the county eontin-
ues to grow By leaps and bounds.
Our county is checkered with rail
roads, and a trolley line will split
it wide open which is now in opera
lion for sever miles. Good dirt
roads m also being built every
where. And this is being achieved
with white labor, the few negroes
IN our midst being in the employ of
corporations, and it is rare to see
one at work in the fields. Jones
county is about forty miles square,
its topography being about the
same as Jackson, Banks and Madi-
son. There are neither wamps nor
malalia, and splendid pure freestone
water a be had anywhere. At
the close of the civil war the whole
country was covered with an unbro-
ken forest of yellow pine. Enter
1rising n~ortherners bought up this
timbered land at one or two dollars
per acre and made large fortunes
rom the lumber. The land was
considered valueless, and cut-over
lands can now be bought as low as
> r2r acre; but it is only a ques-
ION Of time when it will bring ten
times that price. If the farmers