The courier-index., 1917-08-17

The following article about Mari
 anna and Lee county appeared in Sat
 urday's issue of the Paragould Daily
 Press:
 Lee, St. Francis, Woodruff, Crit
 tenden, Phillips and other lower
 Eastern Arkansas counties will pro-
 duce bumper yields of crops this
 fall" remarked H. M. Jackson this
 morning. MT. Jackson, who formerly
 resided in Paragould, is now located
 in Marianna, where he has charge of
 the Courier-Index, a consolidation of
 the two papers that were formerly
 operated in that city. He is spend
 ing today in Paragould greeting
 friends and looking after business
 matters.
 "The war has taught the bottom
 farmers that diversification is not a
 matter of choice but one of necessity,
 continued MT. Jackson. "The unpre-
 cedently high prices of feed and food
 stuffs have forced the land owners to
 grow great variety of crops. This is especially true of corn. Heretofore
 the negro tenants would plant a
 small acreage in corn and at the time it was most needed they would neg feet it and devote their energies to cotton-the staple crop on which they were extended credit for SUD- plies. The result was that the aver age corn yield on the rich bottom plantations was not in excess of
 twenty-five bushels per acre This
 year the planters demanded an in-
 creased acreage in corn and food
 crops and saw that these croqs were properly worked. In consequence, Lee and other bottom counties are not only going to produce enough corn for home consumption, but will have a surplus to dispose of at the good pri- ces prevailing. Land that has here tofore yielded twenty-five bushels of corn to the acre will l\produce from forty to sixty bushels this year.
 The cotton crop has successfully weathered year of extreme abnor- malities. However, many of the planters believe the adverse season will prove blessing in disguise. It has forced the tenants to adopt mod ern scientific methods in the cultiva- tion of the crop, chief among which is constant shallow stirring of the soil. Heretofore it has been the custom to lay by both cotton and corn crops. This year the land owners are keep ing their negroes in the fields, en- deavoring to blow their cotton out every ten days, regardless of it's stage or development. The improvement Tn the appearance of the crop and in It's fruitage during the past thirty days has been little short of marvel ous. In addition to the immediate profit this method will bring to both tand owner and tenant, is the object lesson it places before the negroes. It has taught them the advantage of continuous late cultivation and that the old idea of laying by at a cer- tain period of the season has been an expensive practice.
 WEEvIL MAKES APPEARANCE.
 Thirty days ago some of the cot ton planters were apprehensive about the boil weevil. The pest was found m several isolated sections of the county and it was feared the ravage would rapidly spread to other fields ana become general within another year. The farm demonstrator and party of planters immediately made trip to the boil weevil section of mississippi and conferred with the pianters in the state who ha success luiiy combatted the boil weevil evil. iney found the best way to offset the uamage was by continuous cultiva- uoh. Every time a cultivator or otner farm implement is run between 'ne rows of cotton the weevils are off the plant and fall on the eraqnd. Wings or sweeps are used ~ pull the weevil to the center of .ne turrow so the sun will strike 'nem. While this does not neces- 'arily result in exterminating the pest 1t reduces it's damage to a mini mum. The weevil thrives in the ,nade and does its greatest injury aurlng wet season. The Mississippi planters have long since recovered rom their early fright over the boll weeyil and are now making as large pforits from their cotton as in fer Nier years before the weevil came.
 ALTERNATIVES IN FOLLOWS. :, Last year there were evidences of me weevil in Lee county. They were 'ouno on several small farms locat- 0u m hollows where the pest was pro- .vcted from the blasts of winter. ms year they again made their ap- pearance on these farms and several p'aces just outside the ravines. The weevii travels very slowly, and where 'Ae infection is localized the damage