Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1917-07-29
URGES FARMERS To
KEEP UP FIGHT On
Mr.. BOIL WEEv|L

That this is no time to let up in the
: fight against the boil weevil, is the as
sertion made by ]. G. Oliver, district
agricultural agent and field agent in
weevil control.
Mr.. oliver has issued a strong state
ment to the farmers of this section
anent the boil weevil situation at this
| time, and the Times-Recorder takes
this occasion to give it all possible pub
licity. The statement is as follows:
Here is what it takes to make cot
ton in spite of the boil weevil This
| is a characteristic instance of, first
! determination to do what is necessary,
and second, following up the determ-
/ ination with the actual doing of the
| job. Mr.. Matthews turned his stalks
under early last fall, and he did this
| job as it should be done, as thoroughly
as it was possible to get it done. This
meant for him that it was done abso-
lutely thoroughly This accounts for
! his not having weevils until the dat
I ing of his letter below, July 18th. None
of his neighbors' young weevils have
exhausted the food supply where theH
were Matched out yet. and so have not
need to begin to fly for a new supply.
Until this occurs l feel pretty sure Mr..
Matthews will not have any weeyils he
has kept up with the squares so closely.
I "All over south Georgia this spring
1--we have found instance after instance
I Of where the stalks were destroyed
early last fall, say the last of Septem-
Der, or first of October, they have had
none, or but very few, weeyils to
bother them up to the first of July,
While we are troubled then with having
! to pick squares now be sure that we
put this fact down somewhere in our
! heads and carry it till this fall so that
this only one practical direct fight will
! be carried out with such determination
as Mr.. Matthews used, as well as 9th.
ers. This should be done by whole
communities. We have already begun
to line up in each county two or more
communities that will undertake to get
every man in the community to get his
stalks under thoroughly.
! But read Mr.. Matthews letter, which
is one of good many we get:
Smithville, Ga, July IS, 1917.
" Mr.. J. G. Oliver, Americas, Ga.
Dear Sir: l come to you asking
. for some more information. l have nos
found a single square with a grub in
it, nor a punctured square as l could
tell. l am picking over Mondays and
Thursday. Most of all find on the
ground are small bolls just bloomed.
al get about three gallons of
s .uares of this kind on thirty-f1ye acres.
My cotton will average over waist
high and will soon lock in four and
four and one-half rows.
al have a lot of grown fruit, 10 to 80
bolls to the stalk, and one to three
blooms per stalk each day. All this >
to 80 bolls includes both small and
matured
"'What l want to know is how long
will it pay me to pick up squares. l
want to pick until the middle of Aug
ust VIII it pay me to pick up when it
costs me fifty cents per acre, one dol
lar a week? l think have him faded
up to date, and l must make some 25c
cotton. 1t now looks like bale per
acre Very respectfully.
r. T. MATTHEW'S
I'VE wrote Mr.. Matthews it would
certainly pay him to continue to pick
the squares, at least until the first OF
August this year, since the crop is
rather late But it should not cost
any collar an acre. 1t should not cost
more than three to four dollars per
acre for the entire season, if it is kept
up with as he has kept up with his.
The squares should be picked uptil
his neighbors' weevils get over on
him. This will not happen until the
food supply is about exhausted where
they Matched out This year this may
be even the middle of August. One
can tell when the young weeyils be-
gin to get in their work by the in
creased number of squares that will be
found and when they are found all
along the rows rather than in the
spots as they have been up to now.
"A most splendid fight is being wag-
ed all over the infested area by good
percentage of the farmers. Let's keep
l. up long enough to be sure. Also
do not let the showers cause any one
t. quit getting the squares. Last year
in infested ter r.tory the men who got