The dispatch-news. [volume] (Lexington, S.C.) 1919-2001, 1921-11-02

First. Destroy Immediately all cot
ton stalks as soon as the crop is gath
cred. This will prevent the Matching
of millions of new weevils during Oc-
tcber. The old weevils do not hi
bernate until cold weather and the
destruction of their food supply will
cause them to die before frost. The
carryout out of this suggestion at once
is IMPERATIVE and every effort should
| be made to induce every farmer in
the state to do this work at once, for,
if only few do it, it will have little
effect in reducing next years weevil
supply. ..
Second. During the fall and win
ter destroy all cover in which weevils
may be hiding, burning ditch banks
and margins of woods and cleaning
up around stunps. Fodder and hay
stacks should not be allowed to re-
main near cotton fields.
Use of Fertilizer.
Third. Cotton should be literally
fertilized with quick acting fertilizer
containing about so pounds Of avail
able phosphoric acid per acre, am
monia and potash to be used accord
ing to the character and relative fer
tility of the soil. All applications of
ammonia should be pat down before
the middle of June. Over doses OF
potash have a tendency to delay ma
turity. Where the weeds grow tall
only a small amount of ammonia
should be used as it always delays
maturity and encourages overgrowtl Il
of stalk.
Fourth. Early planting Of ap-
proved varieties of cotton with plenty
of seed. The farmer should save at
least 3 bushels of good seed for each
acre he is gbing to plant. He should
plant at least two bushels before April
l in the lower half of the state and
before April 10 in the upper half Of
the state reserving bushel per- acre.
Ii a stand is not secured by the first
planting he should plant over not
later than April 10 in the lower half
or April 20 in the upper half. IT
large Quantities of seed are used good
stands are usually secured from extra
early paintings and the experience is
that under boil weevil conditions the
greatest crops are always made from
the earliest paintings. If stands are
not secured at a comparatively early
stage the land intended for cotton
should be put into other crops.
Fifth. Cotton should be left thick
in the drill. This distance should
vary with the height of the natural
growth OF the plant three inches or
four inches not being too close as a
minimum and eight inches Or ten in
ches as I, maximum. -
Sixth. The question of poisoning
for boil weevil is still II the eNper-
mental state, but your committee be-
lieves that poisoning with calcium an
senate is valuable, ESPECIALLY if done
at the proper time and under favor
able conditions.
Doubtful as to Time.
Heavy damage from plant lice fol-
lowing busting with calcium arsenate
early last August makes US doubtful
as to this treatment when applied at
that time. The weevils should also
be picked from the plant in the early
stages and as soon as punctured
squares are noticed they should be
picked up twice per week until mid
summer. Rapid and thorough cult
yation at all times. should be employed
and the crop should be gathered as
fast as open to insure a high grade.
In no case should more cotton be
planted than can be properly handled
at all stages and promptly picked by
the labor on the farm, Tor it is the
height OF folly to plant 4 crop and
let the boil weevil eat it up for lack
Of attention or allow it to become blue
in the fields for lack Of picking force.
The experience Of many Of our best
farmers and numerous experiments
conducted under the auspices of the
experiment stations prove that it is
absolutely essential in almost all sec
tons to use around 800 pounds per
acre of acid phosphate under cotton.
In most cases if the amounts applied
varied much, either above or below
this standard, the crops We're less
profita BILE.
Everywhere it must be insisted on