The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1921-12-07
GEORGIA. FARMER ".' 7''a.o.> Y ! s.;.
+" WHIPS BOIL WEEVIL
Frank Holder Accepts Challenge of Pest and Makes
Farming Profitable in Path of Invasion More Than
Bale to Acre Grown by Judicious Effort
(I}y II II. .Jete,.)

| Atlanta, Nov 19.-The year 1921 wa.
the third year of boil ,weeyil infeStFl
ito" on the farm OF Frank Holder OF
jefferson, Ga. a representative OF the
Georgia department of agriculture
found the pest there two years previ-
Gus and predicted that Mr. Holder was
going to have a real fight on his hands
to grow cotton under boil weevil con
| iitiOns and make profit from the en-
| tellDrise. de made this prediction be-
cause MIR. Holders farm, like SO many
OF those in the Piedmont section of the
South, Is divided into a number of
small fields, inclosed by wooded
stretches and necessarily terraced to
prevent elnsiOns, More than this, Mr.
Holder runs gin for the farmers in
his Immediate section and all his
neighbors bring him a plentiful sup
ply Of wccvils with their seed cotton
each fall
These cntcrprising fellows want
no better place in which to hibernate
than tho debris and trash amound Il
country ginncry ad between the cracks
and planl1s Of such wooden struc-
turc. Last fall they were brought to
the gin in increasing numbers, and
| this spring they came out with the full
intention Of doing just what nature
do-eat cotton aud multiply enormous
Ily.
.BecOmes Militant
Right then Mr.. Holder saw that he
had a real fight On his hands. General
ly speaking, he is peaceful citizen.
But when he found that Mr. Wcevil
had declared war on him, he very
promptly severad relations with Mr.
Weevil and decided THAT he would use
force to the uttermost He did pass
a few notes but these were for the
purpose Of seeking suitable allies. in
his campaign and not to argue diplo-
matte quctsionS. SO he studied all the
bulletins and information that could
be secured about methods Of fighting
the 'wecyil. Some OF his information
stated that one thing was the only
way to control the weevil, some said
that another plan had been success
full, others had still another, so Mr..
Holder looked them all over carefully
and from them planned composite
campaign suited to his own particular
needs on his own particular farm.
First. he reasoned that if he must
thing worth fighting for. He must
have high yielding crop. To do this,
he prepared his land carefully and in
telligently and had his seed bed in
the usual good shape before planting.
Then he put down a l0-2-2 fertilizer
at the rate of about 400 pounds per
acre. He wanted lots of phosphoric
acid that would push his cotton to
early maturity. he wanted some nitro
gen to make vegetative growth, and
,he wanted potash to keep the cotton
i'll a healthy, thrifty condition that
would withstand disease. In some
cases, he increased the amount OF
phosphoric acid to IL per cent. instead
Of 10 per cent. With his land in good
shape. his fertilizer applied, he knew
then that ho needed good seed Of a
high yielding variety. so he planted
the Wannamaker Cleveland big boll
Cotton. TO make his crop sure Of
yielding we'll. he later applied a top
dressing OF zoo pounds per acre of a
mixture analyzing about 7 per cent.
available phosphoric acid, 71-2 per
cent nitrogen and . per cent potach.
This was put on in the middle of the
row to feed the little rootlcts as they
developedn and went out in search Of