Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1916-09-06
THAT DEVASTATING PEST.


rious communities. jointly attended b
farmers and business men in regard t
the invasion of this section by the boil
weevil. The work of Demonstration j
IG. oliver is commendable, and to ever,
farmer and business man we bespeal
his knowledge of the situation and tn
methods which he will advance for tn;
fight.
No greater work could be accom-
plished by the Americas and Sumter
County Chamber of Commerce thar
entering the stern battle against the
pest. Secretary P. A. Fenimore is in
terested in the work, and the Times
Recorder feels sure that the full en-
ergies of that valuable organization
will be thrown into the breach-bat-
Ting for the very existence of the
farmer.
But-some people refuse to heed. The
greatest shame is that the time is COM
ing when they will be forced to listen,
and we only hope that it will not be
too late then. Now is the time for the
fight. Let Sumter county do what no
other section has ever done-"take the
bull by the horns" and fight before
we succumb, rather than after
The Savannah Morning News has
the following editorial, which we
commend to the people of this section:
1t hardly seems possible that despite
all that was said and done about the
boil weevil before it crossed the Geor-
gia line and despite all that Georgia
farmers have now learned at first hand
about it, there still are farmers, in
the infested section even, who are
making no effort to fit their farming
methods to the new condition the wee
vii has called into existence. 1t is true
that great many of the men who con-
tribute 10 Georgia's agricultural
weolth are fighting the pest with the
methods found to be most effective OF
all that have been tried, and both they
and the state will profit on this &C
count, but the remarkable fact remains
methods that were followed when the
weevil was hundreds of miles away are
followed now while it raTages now
while it ravages the cotton fields and
the farmer risks his whole years ac-
tivities on cotton without even en-
deavoring to discommodate the weeyil
in any way.
In the Morning News yesterday was
a story from Atlanta to the effect that
the pest is prevalent in thirty-six
counties in the state, and in eighteen
counties floods and the weevil have
caused damage to cotton ranging from
40 to 60 per cent. of the total crop. The
floods, of course, are not to be looked
for annually, but the weeyil will be
on the job year after year unless
great deal more is learned about meth
DDS o feradicating it than is known
now. At any rate the farmers may as
we'll make up their minds that every
year they will have to reckon with it,
that to be successful they will have to
carry on their farming operations
with it as an important factor.
This is the situation in nearly two
score Georgia counties and within a
few years will be the situation in all
the rest of them in which cotton is
grown. Much cotton will have to be
produced every year in spite of the
weevil, and the farmers will have to
raise other things to protect them
selves against the possibility of an al
most total loss of their farming actiy-
tiles by raising something else along
with cotton. Preparedness for the
constant warfare with the pest falls in
to two divisions; one is, of course, the
alert effort to grow cotton IN spite of
the weeyil by following the best advice
obtainable as to methods OF defeating
its ravaging activities, and the other is
the producing of food and feedstuffs
the raising of cattle so that even if the
weevil should get the upper hand OF
some farmers, these men will still
have something for their families and
their stock to eat and something to be
turned into money. If a farmer plung-
es on cotton and the weevil causes such
damage to it that even with good
price in the cotton markets he cannot
more than break even on this crop, he