The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1922-01-21
Hard Times Fer
Absentee Landlords
Mississippi Agriculturalists
Gives Information on Boil
Weevil Conditions

g SQa{n SdtSlIItd tSQittiii1SsiSii AOi
publication, DIR. ". NJ. Riggs. pres
ident Of Clemson College. wrote to
agricultral leaders in states pre-
xionsly infested by the boil weevil
asking for suggestions that might
>hsip in the revision of the report.
Replies from two of these. Direc-
ssor. r., R.: Ricks. OF the Mississippi
Experiment station. and Assistant
Director E. 8. Ferris. Of the South
Mississippi Experiment station. con
tain suggestions and information
that should be Of value TO South
Carolina farmers. Extracts from
these letters are given below:
The revised Report of the South
Carolina Boil Beevn Commission
referred to above has been printed,
as previously announced. and may
s be had bx request from the En-
tension Service. Clemson College,
sffer. reading the Bulletin.
can not see that you can make it
very much better than it is at the
s present time. 1t is we'll written
Bulletin containing much valuable
information: believe that page
or two could be devoted to the
eoMroi measures that have been.
and are at the present time. being
rested by Mr. coad at TaIlulah, La.
as swell as-sonle of the; Experiment
sssSS "a - NJ, Cood 1bSS don q
more than all of the stations put
together with calcium arsenate for
the control of the biol weevil. l
think his conclusion should be more
nearly correct than anything We
could get for you Our results-here
are Fesy much the same as those
obtained by Mr. Coad. AS stated
BY yeal in your Bulletin. & dry
June and July means more, / think.
for the making OF a good cotton
crop unders boil weeyil conditions
han any ether factors. Under
boil weeyil conditions the crop must
be- fairly we'll set before the first
Of Asgust, and you have made it
clear in your Bulletin what is nee
essary TO get the crop before this
ilne-J r. Ricks, Director.
I am hopeful that the weeviI
VIII never denaoralize Your agri-
culture as it has done that in mary
OF the counties you visited in
Louisiana and Mississippi and Tor
several reasons do not think it
viii In the first place, it appear
ed to me that your leadership, es-
pieca1ly in the counties we visited,
Is away above the average Of the
sections that have been SO com
pIefely ruined in this state and
Louisiana. Ny impression was that
many of your best. cotton growers
lived on their own plantations
where .they had. close supervision
oaesefy farG operation, while in
many parts of the two states men
toned the lads were owned large
= .5y people who lived in nearby
towns and cities and were primar-
Iy: interested in other pursuits.
do not believe the planters we met
around Bennettsville, Florence, and
HarJsv:iie. with the ability to de-
yelop varieties of crops and meth
ods of culture that have made their
names familiar 20 growers of corn
and cotton everywhere viii ever
let this dreadful pest gain com
plete mastery over them.
Again, my impression was that
the sections visited had very de-
cided advantage over many other
parts OF the south in the very large
percentage of lands in cultivation
Nth relatively smaller quantities of
Idle land to furnish hibernating
quarters for the weevil- In fact,
nearly all the land was worked in
large fields and there was little of
the patch work SO. frequently seen
inother places. In our state the
Weeyil has never demoralized cotton
production in the well drained
parts of the delta because, as 1 be-
Heye. the fields are very large and
before he can spread from hiber-
mating quarters and cover any con-
Siderable part of, the cotton,sit has
had time to set a respectable crop
of Dolls. The best farmers there
are now poisoning the fields near
the Ssloushs or other woodland ana
in this way are getting a large part
Of the early weevils,
saTeo. on the rich lands of our
delta cotton fruits much more rap
Idly than on the poorer lands Of
the hills and when an opportune
tinae comes during the fruiting sea-
son can in very few days set ell
tie. fruit stalks will ordinarily
bring TO maturity. While your
lands OF the coastal plain are nat
uFafly poor, they have been built
up from the use Of fertilizer to
where they are eves, richer than our
aIiuyial lands and viii develop the
cotton grown on them just as rap
IDLY. Too. you can on your soils
by changing the composition of
your fertilizers hasten the fruiting
and retard the vegetative processes
TO very great extent and this
should be favorable to growing cot
ton with the weevil For instance.
acid phosphate tends to hasten
fruiting while nitrogen and potas-
sfam in too large quantities might
retard the opening of fruit already
SET. This frequently happens on
rich bottom lands of our state
where growth is SO rank, especial