Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1916-11-17

This nfuch-dreaded and abominable
pest il in our midst and has spread
across Georgia in particular with a
surprising degree OF rapidity. Hundreds
Of farmers viii have to face the menace
which IL brings to them for the first
time in 1917. and IL will not be inappro-
pirate to suggest the pursuit of meth
cd OF farm practice which is best cal
culated TO enable them TO meet its at
tack with the highest degree of efficien-
cy. Now Is the time to make plans for
next year. and on the skill with which
this. is done win depend the success
ATTENDING the farmers effort in 1917.
Therefore. a very careful and detailed
plan of operation should now be thought
out and the preliminary work with ref
erence to carrying il into effect ac-
complished with the utmost dispatch. Ii
will be fatal to wait until next spring
TO pitch the crops and arrange and de-
wise what to plant. The suggestions
offered below will apply with equal
force not only to the plantation which
has been infested for one or two sea-
sons, but TO the one which has recently
been invaded as we'll
The first thing to do is to learn to
live as completely at home as possible,
which means that a variety of food
stuffs adapted to the nutrition of man
and beast must be provided. 1t is not
a difficult thing TO co this in a climate
where the growing season varies from
200 to 800 days in length and where an
almost endless variety of crops can be
Grown, and from two to three crops
raised on the same land in a single sea-
son. 1t will be good policy to make a
plan OF the farm and divide It off into
suitable areas. The farmer should not
h-v 10, he 1N.TN Fnr.s lon, sHE oil
sether, but he should limit the area
planted because under bad weevil in
testation he will not be able to produce
probably more than one-third TO two
birds Of a normal crop. The present
high price of cotton will make it ex-
ceedingly difficult for the farmer to be-
lieve this suggestion worth while, but
# he will inquire into the situation and
profit by the experience of his neigh
Dors I'm states which the weevil has
infested for several years, he will find
thsk the advice given is correct in every
particular.
When the plan Of the farm operations
is being laid down, arrangements should
be made to establish rotation of crops
so that cotton will not be brought on
the same land year after year, and so
that the right proportion of roughage,
grain, fruit and vegetables may be pro-
vided for the family and the live stock.
There are many directions in which the
farmer may branch out and reimburse
himself for a part of the loss incurred
through the curtailment OF the area de-
voted to cotton. 1t has been the GUS
tom on the part of most farmers TO
grow cotton and buy their supplies
elsewhere. If the supplies are produced
at home. he can get along equally well
hal he
from cotton than he has previously en-
Joyed. A good garden on every farm
may be worth several hundred dollars
to the owner and he may live off the
very fat of the land. Farmers do not
realize how impossible 1t is to secure
good vegetables in thu average town and
city. nor do they realize the high prices
which the consumer has to pay for what
he may have in abundance and with
comparatively little effort in the open
country.
The fruit plantation should be pruned
and sprayed and looked after and it
can often be extended to advantage.
Certainly, every farmer can raise a good
deal more poultry than is now being
produced. This is particularly true OF
the states bordering on the gulf and
Atlantic coast where poultry husbandry
seems to have been a compare lively neg
Iscted industry if we consider the
amount OF poultry which is shipped into
Georgia from other states. There is no
farmer so poor that he can not extend
his food supplies and his income, there
fore. through emphasizing poultry rails
ing. The high price of meat and the
strong upward tendency now evidenced
due to the demand abroad as a result
of the destruction of the animal life
of Europe means that poultry products
will bring even better prices than those
prevailing at the present time.
The farmer who diversifies will not
be damaged by the weevil because the
weevil attacks only cotton and leaves
other farm crops alone. Therefore, II
he grows what the weevil will not eat
he can live. feed and care for his live
stock and have a surplus of various
farm crops TO sell which are in good
demand and which at present are fire.
quently shipped into the south by rea-
son of the EXPERIMENTATION on cotton
production which has characterized our
agriculture in the past. That there is
a chance to specialize in diversification
need hardly be pointed out since the
south is adapted to the growth of such
a great variety OF grain, forage, fruits