The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1920-11-17
Coming of the Weevil
The Things to DO TO Meet the
Weevil is to Adopt the Policy
that Would he Most Sensible
Even if the Weevil We're
Not a Threat

/
mon in the southern half of Missis-
sippi should be OF the krencst inter
est TO every business man. profcssion-
/ al man and farmer in the south.
| While it deals largely with boil wee
VII history, yet il is so fun OF sound
philosophy and agricultural advice
that It fits everywhere. Mr.. McGrath
hnowS what ne is talking about he
h's been through "thC fire"
I'm order 70 make this article as
brief as possible so that he who runs
may read, | have decided to treat the
boil wccvil subject under three heads:
The Anticipation, Tho Coming and
GnrCt, the Remedy.
The Anticipt, iOn-Thc first great
mistake made by Ou farmers and
business men was thcir Indifference
TO the gravity OF the situation. Even
whon the boll wccvi reached the
mississippi river which is - miles
west OF l}rOokhavcn--a later ON
when it was reported on this side Of
the river; everyone was going along
at the same old gait; planting cotton
and some corn; raising big crops Of
cotton and sending the greater pOr-
ton of the proceeds north to pay for
provisions and grain
None of us realized the greatness
of the danger. We thought it would
treat us like all the other cotton pests
which we had so successfully COM
DattCd-rCduCc our yield for two or
three years ana then pass on 10 other
fields. | had been III business here
for thirty years. l had never seen Il
complete failure in all that time. For
" per cent Of cotton crop was our
lowest record. Nhy then should We
dread tho bon W"cVi! any more than
its predecessors? We would fight it
out on the old lines. We would just
trim our sails Il little and fight our
way through the storm.
Alas! hoy many dollars would have
been saved and how much suffer-
ing spared; and what a long up hill
struggle would have been avoided,
through the seven lean years that fol-
lowed, had we only taken the pre-
caution TO visit the devastated regions
beyond the rive. Hai we only seen
With our own eyes the raVagcS Of the
Mtcvil and then adopted the proper
means Of lighting the oncoming evil;
bllt W" just waited and we paid the
penalty thta always follows apathy.
'"rhc Coming and EffcCts-~ln the
year 1908 the compress receipts ~
BrOOkhavcn were $1,000 bales: in
1911 they were reduced to 300
bales. Just ten per dent Of a full crop
was all that we coulO harvest at thr
end of three Years. The drop was
rapid after 1909. That year we made
about II, 900 bales OF cotton: in tn. 3
year 1910 about $500 bales; ana
then the most complete failure. tn"
farmers did not begin 70 get d"mOr-
allied, nor the merchants ALARMED
until the early raIt OF 1910. Then
fear took possession OF all OF Us. We
decided TO try new crops; and Sc
lcCtcd peanuts as what we call Il
money crop, and made a failure. The
merchants distributed eleven car
loads Of peanut seed and shipped
away that fail only thirteen carloads
Of peanuts. Thank God. we got our
seed back! The next year We tried
syrup, sorghum principally, and some
"ibbOn cane We installed a canning
factory and shipped our product to
Wisconsin, Iowa., and Illinois. We
gained quite reputation there for
the best grade Of sorghum but being
an absolutely pure grade, a quantity
Of IL fcrmcntcd and was total loss.
The factory failed in consequence and
the growing Of syrup az a money crop
was q decided failure
In the meantime, the negroes were
moving north to the delta; labor wH4
getting scarce; and the supply NOR
chant and bankers were getting tired
The strain on the financial strength
Of all was great. The farmers were
trying 10 raise a little cotton al this
time, but were dCvOting most Of their
acreage 10 CowpcaS, potatoes, hay,
The raising of cattle and hogs, and
experimenting with money crops"
"All the time, however, there was
one class Of demonstrators who wero-
continuously at work--thc dairy di-
visions of both the State agricul-
ture college and the United States
government. \ dairy association was
formed in the year 1913. At the
first meeting there were Just nine per
sons iI"Scnt,-thc two demonstrators
seven farmers and myself But W" or
GaniH%d and three years afterwards
the nIr"lnG of the same association
pA>E"d the city nall (capacity Of
hal. 500 to its uttcrmOSt.
1--WE ;"w have two Crcamcrics here
and the combined output amounts to
$4,000 Il year. Permit me to state
here that the great success OF the
dairy business in our section Was not
due To my efforts. / WAS only a mod
est booster. During tn" year 1911,
Mr.. r. T.. Becker an cX-hNnlirr, took
charge of the CyoamrrN. He spent
most of his time the first year Of his
management in huck-noarA GoinS
from farm to farm, explaining IT,"
wonderful possibilities Of the indus
try. He hmlt l. NY Success b"G"ts
success, TN" S. rund creamery W1S
Installed - short time afterwards
wv" Cummrn, 81 - climb TN" Nll