The Washington herald., 1920-05-30
PIG, A RUNT AT THAT, PROVED HIMSELF FARMERS FRIEN
of Agriculture Meredith Working for

the manuf~ rture of automobile tires. Mucn
of it, however, goes into the making OF TN
stockings you wear and the thread w.
stitching your garments. 1t helps every
man, woman and child in the United States
The department has developed new
strain of cotton to take the place OF the
famous Sea Island variety, which is doomed
by the boil weevil. Its early maturity
enables it to escape serious injury by the
weevil, and it is equal in length and fneness
OF staple to the bulk of the Sea Island crop.
That destructive little beetle, ,the boil
weevil. costs us 5000. .O0O, 600 a year. This
enormous tax which it levies on the cotton
crop is of necessity passed on to the con-
>umer. You pay more for every undergar-
ment, for every spool of thread, because oi
the boil weevil. We have been fighting
the insect for years and at last the depart
ment has found d way to get him. The way
TO get him is to poison the cotton plants in
the early morning while the dew is on them.
Farmers, under our instruction, are dust.
ing the plants with a chemical before the
Dug gets out of bed
"R ECENTLY another and equally dan.
gerous enemy OF the cotton has m.
peared on the scene. 1t is the pink boil.
worm. the offspring of a moth. 1t DESTROYS
bolls that the boil weevil fails to DESTROY.
Aiready 1t has invaded twelve counties in
iexas and Louisiana. We have got to elm.
mate it without delay, for, if once it gets
out OF control and spreads through the cot
ton growing region, it will do as much dam
age as the weevil. 1t may cost another
s-OO,OOO,OOO year, and will be reflected In
the price of clothing.
Is this matter of interest exclusivsI,
to the farmer? Well, hardly. Not only N.
South is interested, but the whole country
it is national problem. The railroads A..
interested the mill workers, the banks m.
housewives who buy material for clothing
everybody, in fact.
"hat are we going to do about n, T
Will tell you. The states of Te,,.
Louisiana, acting upon the recommepdot;on
Of the department, will establish NON .oo+.o.
zones covering the twelve counties to vvbioh
refer and in which more than 80 ono .o,o.
OF cotton are normally planted VIII -
COTTON pants to feed on, the pink boIwo-r,
VIII starSe TO death and disappear. II ba.
got to Co. If it is not eradicated no,,
may never get rid of it.
The non cotton zones will h. ~
watched to make sure that cot,ou
planted In any part of them surreptitiou,Iv
as, Tor instance, in openings Of ,vood.
AirPianes were used in 1918 in tbi, noos
marking perhaps their first use in -,
ture' to discover similar zones and L;JI'
fields. nidden
GIVE ARE now using airplapes hs,o..
ing to the War Department and
Grated by its experts to map ont j. ~
Jersey the areas attacked by the ir,,c.tN,
Japanese beetle. 1t is a new and 80.
picturesque idea, that of using svi,a
chimes to fight injurious insects D. y.
promises important usefulness. For n
stance when forests are attacked bv n.
destructive bark weevil,' the discoIor.d
patches resulting from its depredstion.
which cannot readily be observed from ths
ground. are conspicuous when vievad r..
above and measures can be promptly taken
TO prevent the further spread of the enemv
From a height slight differences of tint
are readily perceptible. A man walks across
pasture lot, leaving no track that YOU or
could see; but it is plainly distincuishable
even day or two later by an aviator flying
overhead. The destructive plant louise,
called the green bug makes an carly ap-
pearance in northern Texas, and later on
further north. When it starts, the patches
marking areas of its depreciation are readily
deserted
vent its spread may be concentrated upon
those patches.
Since 1880 there has been an increase OF
. per cent in the yield per acre Of our
principal crops-25 per cent for the whole
country. For corn the increase has been
10 per cent, for oats "a per cent for po-
tatoes 33 per cent, for other field crops 16
per cent. This is the result of better meth
DDS, the introduction Of improved machinery,
the development and planting of more pro-
ductiVe varieties, and the elimination of
plant diseases and insect pests
Fifty years ago our average production,
per capita. of the six principal cereals was
thirty eight bushels; it is now fifty-two
bushels. The production of corn, for each
inhabitant of the United States, has risen
III 'he Some perlOu lrOul twenty tuTee u
twenty seven bushels annually; wheat from
six and one fifth to eight bushels, oats from
four and three quarters to thirteen husheIs,
and cotton from thirty six to sixty pounds.
DO these increases signify nothing of
Importance to the everyday citizen who is
not farmer? Think it over. And, Incl
dentally. how about the marketing? The
housewife, when she goes to market, is able
to make her selection from a much greater
variety of foods. There are more kinds Of
fruit, more kinds of vegetables. Hence the
family diet is more varied.
Our agricultural explorers have invaded