The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1916-12-07
BOLL-WEEVIL SECTION
SEEN FROM AUTOMOBILE.
Mr.. Edward A. Eve Describes His Tour Through the
Territory Attacked by the Cotton Enemy.

Mr. Edward a Eve, general man
ager of the Southern Cotton Oll
Company, has written the following
interesting account of his tour by
automobile through boll-weevil ter
ritory:
Having just returned from an Soc
mile auto trip through Georgia and
South Alabama, where | spent an
entire week studying the effects Of
the boil weevil and the remedies be-
ing resorted to, | feel that have ac'
cumulated some first-hand informa-
ton which should be of benefit to
every farmer in South Carolina.
Instead of going from city to city,
hearing and making speeches, | WELT
direct to the farms in nineteen coun-
ties of Georgia and nine counties OF
Alabama. and saw conditions with
my own eyes, and heard dozens of
farmers tell how the boil weevil had
wiped our their cotton crop and how
many of them are recovering and
becoming more prosperous than
ever before. 1t would take book
to hold all the interesting things
that | saw and learned about diver
sifed farming and stock raising in
the once chastened but finally bless
ed boll-weevil-ridden counties, and |
could write another book about the
wonderful roads through these coun-
ties that enabled me to cover oOO
miles in Ford car with positive com
fort and pleasure during the six
days that | was making these in
vestigations!
But, for many reasons, my mar
rative must only touch the high
places in this inspiring journey.
Starting from my old home. Beech
Island, in Aiken county, in company
with seven of my boyhood compan-
ions. who are now the leading cot
ton planters in that part of the
country, we cranked up two trusty
Fords and crossed the Savannah
river early Monday morning. We
paused in Augusta to tank up and
make minor repairs; and then we
made a dash for Macon, where we
spent the first night. This first run
of l3O miles brought US we'll into
the region of "first-year-infeSta-
tion." The Bibb county demonstra-
tion agent told US that he almost re-
GREETED to say that the weevil had
done practically no damage to this
years cotton crop. Consequently,
the farmers were still blind to the
havoc the weevil is bound to play
next season, and were determined to
plant one more big crop Of cotton.
He knew what was in store for them
and was working like a Big Ben
alarm clock to warn them; but he
seemed to be almost respondent as
to results. The lure of 20 cent cot
ton was simply insurmountable.
The next day we took south
westerly direction, and gradually
penetrated deeper and deeper into
the infested region. Soon after we
passed the peach belt and got back
to where cotton was the principal
crop, the effects of the weevii began
to be apparent. The fields every,
where were covered with fine stalks,
but the upper half of these stalks
was bare of fruit. The yield was
about half what it would have been
under normal conditions. This was
the beginning of the region of Sec
ond-year- -infestation, and the weevils
had multiplied enough to be destruc-
tive only during the latter part of
last summer. A little further, how
ever, the destruction was complete
in many fields where the greatest dill
pence was had not been observed in
fighting the weevil early in the sea-
son. Most of the farmers in this