St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1916-09-23
sOUTH'S COTTON De.
TERIORATES GREATLY
correspondents of TIP Make Re-
port as to Conditions
DAMAGE IN CERTAIN
SECTIONS DISTRESSING
WeeviI Ravages Have Curtailed
Crop Greatly in Alabama and
Mississippi Mostly

Mississippi Mostly
The report as to the situation OF
the cotton crop in the South as
made by the correspondents of the
New Orleans Times -Picayunes is
very interesting.
It shows that very sharp dete-
rioration has occurred since the
last report and that conditions in
some sections of the cotton belt
are distressing.
The rainy weather has to some
extent accounted for this condition,
but the boil weevil is the agent
through which most of the damage
was done.
The report says that the supply
of labor is sufficient in most cases,
but that there appears to be a
shortage of labor where the weevil
has done the most work. The rea-
son given is that the laborers have
left the farms have moved to
cities and towns in order to make a
living.
The report further says that the
farmers in most cases are disposed
to sell at current prices, at least
enough of the crop to pay them out
of debt, and would doubtless resist
any important decline.
In Alabama and Mississippi the
weevil has done most harm. In
some sections of those states it is
said that conditions are distressing.
The report from Shreveport, COW
ering the greater portion of the
state surrounding that city. says:
Weeks of almost ideal weather,
in which heavy rains fell in only
one or two localities of limited area
of Caddo and Bossier parishes, have
LII " f55 ! -
opened cotton bolls and picking is
3 proceeding rapidly. In Bossier the
crop is the best since the advent of
the boil weeyil. This i, due t3 Gae
fact that a number of large l.iant.;-
tions that had been Lille for a num-
Der Of years have llye: pejGvinated,
and most Of them nave .ie-,ll lalanl-
SC totally in 't.s-4 this na" I'll
cotton has quit blooming, either
because it has reached the age
limit, or the ravfshing of the wee
vii, principally the latter. North
Caddo has a full average crop"
The Homer correspondent COM
plains of the early winds and dry
weather as being the cause of crop
deterioration in that section of the
state. Although weather eondi-
tions for the last two weeks have
been ideal. The crop will be taken
i off soon.
The Bastrop report says that the
advent of he boil weeyil has great
" deteriorated the cotton crop in
that immediate section; that the
frequent rains in June and the
early part of July has greatly as
sisted the weevil in damaging the
cotton in that section. The depre-
4 citation is estimated between 80 and
40 per cent.
The cotton crop of Rapides on
July 1, promised to be the largest
yield in its history, but that the
q advent of the boil weeyil has caused
small deterioration, possibly 10 or
Is per cent. But it is now the pre-
vailing impression that the cotton
crop of Rapides parish will greatly
exceed that of last year.
From Baton Rouge comes the
report that the rains have caused
great deterioration in the cotton
crop Of that parish. Farmers will
lose about twenty-five per cent. on
account of those rains. Farmers
We're selling freely up to the time
of the drop in the market, but now
have disposition to hold all the
cotton that they possibly can.
The report from Lake Providence
says that practically the entire crop
has been destroyed by the weevil
The only crop is the bottom crop
It is thought that the shortage OF
the crop will be redeemed by the