The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1921-12-22
Dillon Mans View of the
Weeuil Situation in Ban1berg

! ey till the boil Weevil came. Man
alone can beat the boil weevil," said
| Mr.. Brabham. "The success of his
efforts in fighting the Weevil depends
to large extent on the seasons. If
it is a favorable season and he uses
the most approved methods-the cal
cium arsenate treatment-he can
make q normal crop, but if it is an
unfavorable season the weevil will
eat him up. Even the molasses mix
ture will not prove effective in wet
weather. The rain washes it off as
fast as you put it on, 1t is impossible
| to tell what kind of seasons you will
| have and the safest plan is to plant
only a few acres to the plow, use a a
| quick-acting fertilizer, work the crop
| fast and even if the season is unfav-
orable and if your crop is a failure
You have not lost much" Mr.. Brab-
| ham owns both stiff and light lands.
He owns a place in the lower part of
the county and place in the upper
end. When gathering time came the
results we're the same. I did not put
the figures down at the time, but my
recollection is that he told me he
gathered about 40 bales from 25O
acres. That was the experience OF
one of the best farmers in the lower
part of the state.
The general opinion seemed to be
that even though the county was
passing through it's worst year with
the weevil-the third year that a
| fairly good crop would have been
made with the calcium-arsenate-mo-
lasses treatment if the season had
been favorable, but one veteran far
| mer told me it had been the worst
season he ever saw. The crop was do
| ing fairly we'll until the July and
| AUGUST rains came. It rained in tor
rents day after day and for weeks it
was impossible to work in stiff land.
It was during this wet spell that the
weevil got in its most destructive
work. .
G.. Frank Bamberg, livestock deal
er and large land owner, had ten
acres of cotton near his residence. 1t
| was a pet field. He ignored the heavy
| rains and right after each rain he
| put his hands in the field and applied
| the calcium-arsenate-m GLASSES treat
ment. AS fast as the rains washed it
off he applied it again and again. He
he does not know how many applca-
tions he made, but all during the long
wet spell he kept up the treatment.
He made Z bales on 10 acres, which |
think, was the record for the county.
| I did not find out how much it cost,
but the treatments must have been
expensive.
81 cannot account for it, said H.
F.. Bamberg, another large planter,
ssbut the weevil seeme| to work in
spots. I saw fields in Itch the work
had been intelligently directed. The
squares were either picked up or
plowed under as fast as they fell, the
arsenate-molasses treatment
was used literally, but still the crop
was a failure, while just across the
road where the methods of fighting
the weevil had not been used, where
the crop you might say had been neg
lected, saw fairly good crops made. -
Mr.. Bamberg said.it was Is per cent.
season and 25 per cent. man.
I could tell of dozens of other
cases, but it would be to repeat the
story over and over. There was some
little difference in the methods en-
ployed in fighting the progress of the
weevil, but in nearly every case the
IIresults were the same. Light land
with good drainage, intelligent cultl-
vation and quick-acting fertilizers
made from 80 to 40 per cont. of a
| crop, but this was in spots, stiff lands
with good drainage made from 10
to 20 per cent. of crop while stiff
lands with poor drainage and indlf-
ferent cultivation made practically
nothing.
The merchants and bankers take a
hopeful view of the situation. All
| the stores are carrying average
stocks and the bank statements ana
lyze fairly we'll. The banks have been
liberal with their customers. They
have not found it necessary to press
them. They too have received liberal
treatment from their correspondent
banks. Old debts are being gradually
liquidated. Here and there where a
landowners lien at the local bank is
too heavy and his crop has been a
failure he is going into the land