Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1921-10-07
ABOUT THE WEEVlL.

Mr. ]. Frank Ashe Of McConnells-
vile, was in Yorkville yesterday on
business, and having learned that he
had been down in the boil weevil coun-
try recently, reporter for The York
willie Enuuirer took occasion to ask
him about i.
"Yes. | went over near Florence
said Mr.. Ashe, principally for the pur-
pose of learning something about the
boil weevil; but l don't know how to
begin telling you about it, because
don't believe l will say anything that
will be of any particular value.
The best way for anybody VINO
wants to learn is TO go and see. Ine
principal thing that they will learn Will
be that in spite of all they have heard
and read they will not be prepared Tor
what they see.
Among other things 1 was told that
the Florence county people saw thelr
first weeyils on August 81 of last year.
They were Of the belief that they woul9
b. able to make at least one more good
crop before the weevil became gener-
al. so they went ahead as usual. Some
folks will make a little cotton, ana
some will make none. l saw one field
on which there could have been two
bales 10 the acre. They have gotten
one bale all riLht; but the boil WeeVll
got the balance-not q thing uolnS
from about half the height Of the stalk
up. ,,.o G
called to my attention. That was the
case of a large farmer who failed 70
get a satisfactory stand on a fine held
at the first planting and planted over.
It has been nothing unusual fot thls
man TO make more than two bales 10
the acre on that land. He has enough
weed for that much cotton; but actu-
ally there is not to be found slnSle
boil in the whole field. The cotton pc
ing late the boil weevils were ready FOR
it when it came and they got every
SQUARE. There is beautltul neld Vi
weed but nothing else.
"By the way this field reminded me
of n circumstance within the recollec-
tion of the older people of our neigh
borhood that is well worth telling.
have reference to an experiment that
was once made by the late X. Il. GUN
rie. IL was an unusual season-a late
| call-and after his cotton had been
gathered the stalks were still green
| There had been no frost. Mr.. Guthrie
| vent ahead and moved the nelo
and cured the cotton stalks a.
hay. Some people laughed and others
wondered. But do you know that ne
Kept many head of cattle through the
| winter on that hay? II was good nay
! TOO. OF course ! am not Suggesting
that ANYBODY raise cotton as nay
crop: but it struck me that this Flor
ence farmer could have gotten some
thing out of his field by converting A
| into hay.
"Nhen I saw the situation that hat
been worked by the boil weevil, l'wa'
reminded quite forcibly OF curious
! declaration that | once read to the Ell
feet that two blue bottle flies could ca
nm the carcass of an OK quicker thar
two lions could. The think struck m'
as incredulous at first; but you see
is question Of geometric progression
| Eor instance the female. fly would de-
Dosit so manv eggs, and then eaci
other female fly would deposit 50 man!
more eggs. Weevils bring on new
crop every twenty-one days, ana
that rate it does not take but two o.
three crops of weevils to puncture al
many squares as you might happen u
nave up into the millions.
But from all l could gather cen
Guided Mr. AShe, "the most importah
elements of the situation are TO Se
vour crop forward as rapidly as posi-
ble and then keep down the progress
sion as much as you can by destroy
ing the eggs in the squares that ha1
been she'd. OF course that does not be-
gin to solve the problem; but it has a:
much bearing on it as any other tWt
| things l can think Of