The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-08-13
ZEN, WOMEN
 AND THINGS


 | Now. 1 have been about over the state talking diversifcation of crops for the past few years. and have written many articles urging it, but in spite of it's being mighty good thing. l have not fooled myself into the belief that the cotton acreage was to be materially cut , in Alabama with the price that it is bringing. Sure, I expect to keep boosting di versihcation of crops, and the putting in of more herds of pure-bred cattle and the raising of a better grade of hogs, and the building of grain elevators, and the erection of potato houses, and the establishing of creameries, and the put ting up of sios; but I do not expect to try and urge farmers in certain sec tions to quit planting cotton. 1 put in some time down in Dallas county recently. My prime purpose was to attend sale of pure-bred Durocs, but when out on my trips I keep out a weather eye for anything of interest. got chance to ride out over some
  | ton has not gone out of style in the | regions round and about Selma, and am inclined to suspect that it will be l la mode for many moons to come. Do not get it into your head that Dallas county farmers are behind the times and not progressive, for they have studied out the situation and are confident that at present prices the fleecy staple is about the surest and best money crop | they can plant, in spite of the ravages of MT. Boil Weevil, whose army is a.hungry one. and requires many a square and | bloom to satisfy it's ravenous appetite. I came very near saying that you could hear them devouring the crop as you rode along the road, but remembering that I belonged to the ministry I thought it best to omit any such sensational state ment in spite of the fact that the dreaded pests were doing all the damage pos sible as the weather conditions were ideal for their development and growth.
 
 l 1 have wondered all along if the boil weevil was to have his way without stiff fight from the men whose business l it is to study out problems in entomol- 1 ogy for the state, but on visit to Au- burn somewhile back I had talk with pr. ". E. Hinds, and I knew fro mwhat he said and showed me that nothing was | being left undone by him or his CO., workers to rid the farmers of their worst enemy.
 had been up with Professor Duggar and seen him pull out drawer after drawer of maps, showing how in nearly every coun- 1 ty experiments in cotton culture were being made and registered so that infor- nation gathered from different sections might be made available in the hope that out of varied kinds of seeds planted in many kinds of soil information might be had which would give the best selection for future planting.
 | I began to see the value of Auburn's work when I went out itno the nearby fields where tests were being made under the trained eye of experts, and I hope that this legislature is going to be more liberal in it's appropriations for the CO., operative extension work directed so ably and economically by my friend Dr. J. F. Duggar, whose name stands high as an authority in his line throughout Amer ica
 Igot a bulletin from the Alabama Poly technic institute on the topic, Should We Dust Cotton to Control the Boil Weevil?'' glanced over it as I make it rule to at least skim every paper. magazine. 1 pamphlet or book which comes to my desk, for l never know what information am going to get out of them. If every one had the habit it would be possible to reduce the size of the waste baskets in newspaper offices
 l managed to get general idea of the dusting process and learned that the well-known pole and bag method used in applying poisons for the, cotton leaf worm cannot be used for the boil weevil; and that special machinery is necessary to drive the dust all through the cotton plants. I found out that the simplest and the cheapest was the hand-driven ma Siiiilc CoSilIS aDOuI 3lo eacn, carried by the operators, but able to treat only one row at time. The trouble with it being that one man cannot cover many acres, about l5 being the limit for one man during the short season in which he must work
 The other type of machine is much larger and more expensive It is horse drawn gasoline engine driven duster, and may be had in two sizes. The smaller costs between $50 and $20O This outfit and should care for from 15o to 200 acres per season. There are larger sizes at varying costs.
 Little did dream when I was reading the pamphlet that in a few weeks I would get to see an $500 machine at work but down at Orrville I learned that John Dunaway was trying out one of his fav- orite patches of 300 acres, and I made up my mind to see it even if had to ger had lost my chance to see it at work in the late afternoon, and it is used only when the dew is on the cotton.
 |
 drove out in the field to see it in operation, and it was sight to see a gasoline engine puffing and blowing, be- ing pulled between cotton rows by two ) mules as stream of powdered calcium on a frosty day pouring out of a cabin as lost cloud and looked mighty light lan r,,xy hirf -ke .1n Nf.