Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1922-04-04
COTTON and THE WEEVL
Memphis Farmer Gives His system
Of Handling.
BALE TO The ACRE STILL POSSIBLE
Must Plant In Big Open Fields and Get
a Full stand-cuitivation Must Be-
Shallow and Rapid, and There Should
be a Liberal Use Of Fertilizer.
CBy y. -. IOCs. D

be Liberal Use Of Fertilizer.
(By B. L. -IoDs.) ~ ~ 4 4, 9,
In the beginning may say that 9
am speaking from experience and from
fairly successful experience. This year
I averaged two thirds Of a bale per
acre over 200 acres, with considerable
acres making a bale per acre I am
convinced I can make q fair crop OF
cotton in almost any year and that
on an average I can make profitable
crops: ~ .s fGB
Below I am setting down, in what I
consider the order Of their Importance.
the four or five essential cotton grow
ing rules under weevii conditions.
Big Open Fields.
Where the weevil is to be contended
with a big factor is the over-wintered
weevil-the weevil that lives through
the winter in woods, thickets, dead
trees and stumps, hedge and fence
rows, and comes out In the spring, lays
eggs in the young squares and pro-
duces a second generation to keep up
the work and to multiply the destruc-
ton. In this section, in which Is often
seen over -wintered weevils 80 numer-
GUS they punctured all the squares ana
prevented any blooms until July 4, In
a case of such heavy infestation itis, Of
course, out Of the question to make
anything like a normal crop. i
Manifestly, then, our first Job ist to
tackle the over-wintered weeyl and
To reduce his number to the greatest
possible extent. In doing this find,
omen fields-fields free from thickets,
briar patches. atumps and old fenceS
rows-of extreme importance. We,
know that the prairie sections of Texas
have rarely been Deriouslrih hurt By the
weevil and I believe we should. so tar
as possible, create aprairis 1onditions
on our own farms. The ,delt& sections
of Arkansas, louisiana and Mississippi
have suffered less from the 8eeyit than
have the hill farms in the same an
| tude, and In this large nleastre "a
probably. due to the blgsopep ,fislds OF
the delta, compared with small Ae;ds,
patches and much woods and ,thickets
in the hills. - ~ 2, =.
| On my own. .farsn the bulk Of my cot-
ton Is produced a. q lslblocS of some 500
acres Of cultivated land belonsing 70
myself and neighbors and on these
fields while the weevii Is present, II ~,
a very small factor In effecting the
yield 5,}i Z,
have my doubts as TO the adyisa-
bility OF attempting 70 ero" 90 -
small patches with trees ana tnicxets
all around, at least In the southern nail
| of the cotton belt. where our winlffr9s :
are mild and where large NUMBERS ol
weevils, IL afforded some protectniop'
survive the winters. Year after year
see small patches ana small neios ~
situated simply eaten up by weeviis re-
kardless OF the best cultural metno9s.
would also, as far as practicapte
put all Of my cotton In o sohd, conttn-
uous block, with corn or some otip'Sl otipSS
crop off next to the woods. The isolated
patch of cotton is always In danger q
Close Spae'ng'
The second point that l '"ouio et ~.
phasize, and the one that Is naroiy iess
important than big, open fields, is 'ciose SO
spacing. am convinced that mo
South as whole gets along with noy
over one-half a stand OF cotton. what
we are losing from imperfect stancs
alone is enormous; hundreds OF mh-
lions of dollars Is not too big an esciS
mate.
| Under weevil conditions, on any
and all types of soils, 1t Is a proved,
fact that a perfect stand Of cotton calls
for a three foot row, cotton chopped
n a boe's width In the row and two to
four stalks to the hill. Any wider
snaciny means decreased yield. To
get this perfect stand six or eight pecks
of seed per acre should be planted.
Such heavy seeding will almost insure
stand. regardless of packing rains
and cold winds.
iberaI. Fertilization.
IN ary thin sandy nine lands, most
l.. o.onaohuro Rnston and Norfolk
| .s-a cation fertIlizer IA