Fitzgerald leader enterprise and press. (Fitzgerald, Ben Hill County, Ga.) 1921-1964, 1922-02-02
Bale To Acre Is Not Unusual In Sec
ton. Although Infestation Is
Very Heavy
(Frum Atlanta CONSTITUTE uu
BY James A. Holloman)

ARKANSAS CITY, Ark.-Thc far
mcr> OF the Arkansas cotton belt WhC
are progressive have long since ma,
tered the boil weryiL inst as the sam
class of iarmtIs have H. Texas, Louis
lana, Mississippi and southeast Ala
bama
! want every reader to understand
that Use Tie word progressive al
yIscd'y, for there art . number OF so
called iarmcrs" in every community
who are to lazy or indifferent, OF
both, to succeed at anything where i
takes a coordination OF brain anc
Drawn. and these fellows are still let.
ting the boil wccvil eat up what littl,
prospects they do have each year -
and yet they growl and endure it, ant
make little or no intelligent effort &c
remedy their conditions
Necessity in Converting Old
Time Grouchy Class.
The number Of such men, however
is gradually diminishing throughout
the rural sections, | find For that
God be praised! Stern necessity is
largely responsible. With public
works employment cut down in many
communities that class OF one horse
one gallus' farmers who have been
working on sections ana in nearby la
Dor camps, allowing their wives and
kids to run the farms, have been
largely driven home for the very neces-
sary three meals day that it requires
TO exist; and many OF these men are
beginning to see light in the sky, and
are beginning to apply themselves to
the buscss of farming, even though
on a small scale
And where they do make farming a
business, and work hard and intelli-
gently they are succeeding even if on
five-acre tract
But getting back to the subject mat
ter--thc progressive cotton farmers of
southern Arkansas are as rule.
making more cotton on a given acre
age than ever before-bcfore the ad-
vent of the boil weevil | mean-and
they are more uniformly prosperous
tor the reason that they are raising
their hay and grain and meat not only
Tor home consumption but for market,
with fruits and vegetables and chick
enus and eggs, and are making cotton
a surplus crop only-a money crop
They are--those of them who are mas
tering the boil weevil planting an
average OF one-half the cotton acreage
they formerly did, concentrating their
cultural energy to the smaller acreage
and taking off almost as much net
lint as they did when they thought
they could or should only raise cotton.
Just as in the other states of the
cotton belt, when the weeviI struck
Arkansas the planters; even in the
delta section, were not prepared for
him. They had procrastnated They
thought he would never get so far up.
He came upon them like a tornado
and for the first two or three wears he
swept the fileds clean. They were
panic-stricken-just as they were in
Texas. Many fapmers lost COURAGE
and moved away, Others those who
are rich and powerful factors in every
community today-profited by the ex-
perience, went over into Texas and
found out first hand how they were
mastering him and came back to their
homes determined to apply the same
methods of oeration They won!
They won just like the farmers of
Georgia and the Carolinas will win, il
they do the same thing.
The one and Only Story
That Means Success
1t S the same story-there is nc
other story to tell. They reduced
their cotton acreage; prepared Their
seed beds more carefully, drilling in .
moderate amount of nitrates at the be
ginning; puluverizing their land thor
oughly before the drill, and thus ben
every effort to getting a good stant
OF cotton from the first planting so a.
to save time, expense and a late or in
different crop. They planted on thi
reduced acreage Just as early as tn,
normal climatic conditions would per
init, varying from the 18th of Marcl
to the 18th of April. They exercise,
more care in seed selection, using onl,
pedigreed seed of early bearing heav,
truiting varieties of which there ar
several. They chopped the cotton. a
rule, to the old time spacing, man,
OF the more progressive farmers how
ever, subsequently learning that eve,
if left thicker on particularly good Ian,
the yield would be increased.
And then they began to cultivate
They cultivated for the double pur
pose for running the fruit away iron
the boil weevil, and also to keep tn
boil weevil down, as rapid continuou
cultivation will do, especially il tn
summers are dry. That is no theory
Rapid and intense cultivation kill
millions of boil weevils at each opera
ton, turning them under and leavin,
them to die under the hot sand o
loan. They, therefore, plowed a