The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1917-04-12
HOW TO BEAT THE WEEVIL.
II. =. Barton Made Instructive Adj
dress Thursday.

five millions of dollars for foodstuffs;
that they spend annually thirty mil
lions of dollars for fertiiiZers-much
of it uselessly; that the boil weevil is
certain to come; that the Weevil is
going to cause devastation, and that
thousands of people are going to be
ruined by the weevil, are some of
the startling statements made last
Thursday by Mr.. H. P. Barton. who
made an address to the farmers and
| business men of Bamberg and vicini-
ty.
DR.. W. w. Long was expected to
| come to Bamberg and address the
| farmers. but DR.. Long was too Ill to
| come Thursday, so he sent his first
| lieutenant, as DR.. Watson described
| him, Mr.. Barton, a man who is thor
| oughly versed about the boil weevil,
and about farm conditions in general.
| While it was very regrettable that
| DR.. Long could not be present, MIR.
Barton's hearers were in no manner
disappointed.
Unfortunately for Bamberg coun-
ty the meeting was not we'll attend
ed. This was due in large measure,
no doubt, to the fact that THURSDAY
morning was very inclement. Hard
rains had fallen throughout the
morning and the night before, and
even while Mr.. Barton was speaking,
the rain was falling in downpour,
ACCOMPANIED by severe wind and
thunder.
The speaker was introduced by
DR.. Watson, on behalf of the Cham
Der of Commerce, under whose
auspices DR.. Long had been invited
to come to Bamberg.
Mr.. Barton stated at the outset
that the millions we are sending
away for foodstuffs, produce, etc.
and fertilizers are, for the largest
part, uselessly spent. In other
words. the foodstuffs should be pro-
duced at home, and the fertilizer bill
may be cut to almost nothing by con-
serving the energy of the lands and
rotating leguminous and non-leguml-
nous crops. BY this means, said the
sneaker. the fertilizer cost may be
cut two-thirds, at least.
Twenty years ago, said Mr.. Bar
ton. about 54 per cent. of the farm
ers in this State owned their homes;
at this time only about thirty per
cent. own their plantations. The far
mers are gradually starving them
selves by planting cotton, and Mr..
Barton said that he sometimes feels
like thanking God for the boil wee
vii. The weevil will force the far
mers to adopt different methods OF
farming, will force them to cooper
ate one with the other, and will COM
| pel them to raise more foods and
less cotton.
Without a doubt, said he, the wee
vii is going to cause ruin to thou
sands of farmers; at the same time,
with the continuation of the present
method of cotton farming, even with
out the coming of the weevil, the
ruin would be to tens of thousands,
instead of thousands. Between cot
ton and the boil weevil, Mr.. Barton
| said he would take the weevil. every
time.
Some very interesting charts were
exhibited by the speaker. One OF
these contained statistics on the re-
suit of the coming of the weevil to
the State of Louisiana. In Baton
Rouge county, before the weevil ap-
| peared. in round figures, $4,000 bales
of cotton were produced; the weevil
cut these figures to 944 bales. In
another county, $1,000 bales were
| produced before the weevil came,
and 900 afterward. Still another
county produced, before, $4,000
bales; after 1000, etc. The point
the speaker wished to emphasize
with this chart was that in the lower
counties of South Carolina the con-
] ditions are practically the same 'as
in Louisiana-in fact conditions here
are just a little more favorable to
the weevil than in Louisiana. What,
then, may be expected in South Caro-
lima after the weevil is here?
And the weevil is coming. 1t is
useless to argue with or seek to bene-
1t those persons who persist in say
ing that the weevil is myth, and
will never come; it is better to let
such people alone Thousands are
going to be ruined anyway; might as
we'll let them be among the ruined,
and turn our attention to those who
have listening ears.