The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1920-09-28
Heavy Crop Prospects Promised on
His Laurens County, Ga, Farm,
When Inspected in July,
Are Being Realized:

- WA
gone after the bolls in such a Wig
orous manner, all except upon one
farm. That farm is the one owned by
w. B. Taylor Of Dexter and it has
52s6 acres of. cotton that will come
very near fulfilling the prediction in
July of 256 bales Of cottor.
A representative of this paper
went~over the cotton fields with DR..
Taylor Thursday afternoon, for the
second time this season, and was
shown just what kind Of yield was
being picked. He found that the
heavy crop prospects that the same
fields indicated about July 25th were
being realized. Many of the fields
were being picked over the second
time, and yet they showed a better
crop open on the second picking than
viii be gathered during the entire
season on 80 per cent. of the farms
in Laurens this year.
How II Was Done.
Most of the farmers had a good
crop prospect on July 25th, just as
Dr. Taylor did. Not all of them had
indications of as big yield, but the
crop was much better than last year.
They had very few weevils, and they
were getting ready to use Calcium:
arsenate freely. Every one was hope
full for a $4,000 bale crop. And they
had good reasons to hope for that
many bales.
About August rain set in and 1t
kept raining every day. Using cal
cium arsenate was out OF the ques-
ton. Along with the rain came the
migratory boil l. weevils, in swarm5
hunting fresh fields where there were
plenty of new squares. They found
these in Laurens, and they located
in this county, being probably the
most unpopular visitor that LaurenS
ever entertained. It continued to
rain and it then rained some more
for good measure. While the rain
fell, the weevil got busy and LaurenS
county farmers were forced to stand
idly BY and see their crop ruin. They
were able to fight him up to the last
few weeks Of the season, and then
were powerless at the last to realize
on their good work of the season.
One Of the first questions asked
DE-. Taylor by the reporter was how
he defeated the weevil when every
one else lost. His answers were very
simple but he had the results to dem
onstrate it's truth.
Boil. Too Tough for Weevils.
sIt was due to, the fact that on my
cottdh the tough, inner parchment
lining Of the boIls get too hard for
the Weeyii to puncture in from Is to
21 days, while the average cotton re-
quires SO days for this inner skin to
get too hard for The weevil," DR..
Taylor answered.
Pulling some bolls' off the plants at
random, he proceeded to show what
he means. Some Of them he pulled
were just a little more than halls
grown. On the outside could be
seen numerous small weevil pune
lures. It looked as if they were
hopelessly ruined. Then they were
en-. open, all but the smallest of them
were found to be sound. The weevils
could not bore through the inner
parehment-like skin cf the boil. he
could bore into the outside easily,
and mad done 't, for the signs were
plentiful, but the :ouGn skin inside
stopped him. Some Of them showed
spots on this tough skin where the
weeVn had almost sot through and
caused a discolored place or the skin
but in, very few cases had he been
able to puncture this inner parch-
ment-like skin. Some Of the holis
thus immune were. not over Is days
old. Some were older, but only the
small ones, portion Of the Is day
old boils were damaged by the
weevil.
s.That is the secret of my cotton
CROP. DR.. Taylor said. ''This Toole
cotton am using naturally produces
fTnty boil, much more so than the
average cotton used in this county.
And, since l have been fighting the
weevil, l have been selecting the
hardest, fiintiest bolls for seed. This
had resulted in my getting a strain
Of seed that produces bolis which get
teo tough for the weevil in from Is
to 21 days. Many OF them have an
inner skin too tough for the weevil
by the 18th day, while all of them
are past danger by the 21ct. This