The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1916-11-30

reception. Mr.. Jenkins, the county
demonstration agent, took us in hand
and taught us more about the boil
weevil than we could have learned
from all the books ever written. He
took us out into the fields and helped
US each catch bottleful of weevils,
and answered a thousand questions
about every phase of weevil opera
tions. He explained how cotton
might be made under boil weevil con-
ditions if the season was dry and fa-
vorable; but he said Geneva county
did not have to make any more cot
ton. They were making all the
money they needed raising hogs. He
showed us huge pens of fat hogs, all
ready for the market. and said they
had shipped 800 carloads OF hogs to
a nearby packing house this year,
against three carloads two years ago.
What Enterprise is Doing.
That afternoon we went on to the
hustling town of Enterprise. zone OF
our party referring to it as Prog
ress," and when we got there we
found he was not far wrong.) This
was a community where the boil
weevil had come and gone. 1t had
gone simply because cotton had gone
and they had both been forgotten
about, except as blessings that
"brighten as they take their fight. y
They really looked on the boil weevll
as the greatest blessing they ever
had, because it drove them from cot
ton to crops that we're more profit
able. Everyone seemed prosperous
and happy-almost intoxicated with
the taste of the new freedom that
they were enjoying! They showed
us their diversified crops and their
cattle and hogs and mules with the
greatest enthusiasm.
The farmers held meeting for
our benefit at the town bank that
night and one after the other told
how he had paid off all his back
debts during the last two years and
was now laying up money in bank.
The bank president confirmed all OF
this, and was the biggest optimist OF
them all. He told us most emphat-
ically that during the last two years
he had sent thousands of good dollars
after bad ones, and that in every
case where the farmers had plant
ed peanuts instead of cotton the good
dollars had come back and brought
all the bad ones, too.
The manager of the local oil mill
showed me a few tons of old cotton
seed that he had thrown out on the
ground, and said that he expected to
crush nothing but peanuts from now
on.
One big hearted farmer insisted
very much on taking all eight of us
out to his home to spend the night;
and they begged us to spend at least
a week with them.
A Modern Packing House.
1t was hard to resist such jolly
good fellows and such genuine hos
pitality, but We had to tear ourselves
away next morning and force on to
Andalusia. our final objective. Here
we found somewhat the same condl-
tions as at Enterprise, but the town
was more of commercial and manu-
featuring centre. We were practical
ly interested in a fine new packing
house that was handling 800 to 400
hogs per day. The 'wealthiest man
in south Alabama" who happe. to
be the owner, showed us through the
entire plant and made it most inter-
esting by his clear explanation of
things. They had been paying 8 IL
cents for hogs until recently, but had
to cut the price because they were
coming in too fast. We saw about
1000 splendid hogs in the pens. We
all agreed that our Orangeburg
friends who are interested in a SINH
lar enterprise could get some help
full and encouraging points from this
thriving and up-to-date plant.
Our trip home, by way of Mont
gomery, Tuskeegee and Columbus,
was full of interest, and high trib-
ute to good roads. If l can possibly
find the time l would like to write
something about the efficiency of the
splendid highways all through Ala
bama and Georgia that enabled us to
cover more than 400 miles in two
days of easy, comfortable running.
The boil weevil is now reported to
be within fifty miles of the Savannah
river, and is practically sure to cross
over next season. This means that
in about two seasons it may be eX-