Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1920-09-13
Dublin Courier-Herald.)

| vigorous manner, all except upon one
farm. That farm is the one owned
| by W. B. Taylor, of Dexter, and it
| has 256 acres of cotton that will
come very near fulfilling the pre-
diction in July of 256 bales of cot
| ton.
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 be-
| ing picked. He found that the heavy
crop prospects that the same fields
| indicated about July % were be-
ing realized. Many of the fields
were being picked over the second
time, and yet they showed better
crop open on the second picking than
will be gathered during the entire
season on 80 per cent of the farms
in Laurens this year.
Most of the farmers had good
crop prospect on July %, just as DR..
Taylor did. Not all Of them had irf@
dications Of as big a yield, but the
crop was much better than last year.
They had very few weevils, and they
were getting ready to use calcium ar
senate freely Every one was hope
full for a $4,000 bale crop. And
they had good reason to hope for
that many bales.
About August / rain set in and IL
kept raining every day. Using cal
cium arsenate was out of the ques-
ton. Along with the rain came the
migratory boil weevils, in swarms.
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 visitors that Laurens ever
entertained. 1t continued to rain,
and it ten rained some more for
good measure. While the ram 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
DR.. Taylor by the reporter was how
ne defeated the weevil when every
one else lost. His answers was very
simple, but he had the results to
demonstrate its truth.
Bolls Too Tough for Weevil.
ut was due to the fact that on
my cotton the tough, inner pafch-
ment lining OF the bolls gets too hard
for the weevils to puncture IN from
l5 to q days, while the average cot
ton requires 80 days for this inner
skin to get too hard for the weevll,
Dr. Taylor answered.
Pulling some bolls off the plants
at random, he proceeded to snow
what he meant. Some OF them ne
pulled were just a little more than
MALT grown. On the outside could
be numerous small weevil punctures.
1t looked as if they were hopeiessly
ruined. Then they were cut open,
all but the smallest of them were
found to be sound. The weevlls
could not bore through the inner
parchment-like skin of the boil. he
could bore into the outside easily
and had done it, for the signs We're
plentiful, but the tough skin inside
stopped him. Some of them showed
spots on this tough skin where the
weevil had almost got through ana
caused a discolored place on the
skin. but in very few cases had ne
been able to puncture this inner
uarchment-like skin. Some OF the
hollis thus immune were not over 10
DAYS old. Some were older, but only
tbe smaller ones, a portion of the
15-day-old bolls were damaged by
the weevil.
THAT is the secret of my cotton
CROP" DIR. Taylor said. This Ioole
cotton / am using naturally produces
a flinty boil, much more so than the
average cotton used in this county.
And, since | have been fighting the
weevil, | have been selecting the
hardest, flintiest bolls for seed. This
had resulted in my getting strain
of seed that produces bOlls which get
too tough for the weevil in from 10
to 21 days. Many of them have an
inner skin too tough for the weevll
by the 18th day, while all of them
are past danger by the 2lst. This
makes them immune 20 the weeVll
That is the reason did not lose
my crop during the rains which came
in the first half of August, when ev-
cry other crop in the county went
to the bad. The bolls which other
types of cotton had could be pune
tured by the weevils up to 80 days
or age That made it out of the ques-
ton for the farmer to get more than
the earliest bolls of the season. The
weevil got the young bolls as well
as the squares.
Like Flinty Corn.
"This flinty type of cotton is SINH
lar in principles to the flint corn that
is being grown by many farmers be-
cause it is too hard for the corn
weevil to attack There are many
varieties of soft kernel corn which
are ruined every year by the corn
weevils, while the flinty variety, with
an extra hard grain, and tough husk
, is immune to weevil attacks. This
is the same way with my strain of
cotton. | have bred it to where it
not only grows fast, puts on fruit
quickly, but the inner parchment
skin gets too hard for the weevils in
from Is to 81 days, some 10 or 10
days ahead of the average cotton.
Because of this, the young bolls are
10 NrIrs ~