Fitzgerald leader enterprise and press. (Fitzgerald, Ben Hill County, Ga.) 1921-1964, 1922-02-09
Adult Pests Which Appear Early In
Season, Picked Off by Hand. Talks
With Dirt Farmers
From atlanta Constitut'on)
(By James \ Holloman)

raised here every year proiitaDly, III
spite Of the boil wccvil, the healthy
financial condition of the farmers is
due. first, TO balancing field cropping
with stock growing; and, second, to so
divcrsifying agricultural activities that
cotton is made purely a surplus crop.
By thus having CUT old-time cotton
acreage to one fourth, or onc-half at
most in sporadic instances, then farm
ers are enabled to intensity in cotton
cultivation, thus running, under other
normal conditions a successful race
with the boil wecyil
There are ION years and "off years
in cotton growing, even under intense
cultural methods, and it must not be
assumed that the boil wecvil is the
only enemy the cotton planter has TO
contend with
have cndcavorcd to make clear
throughout this series that direct con
troll OF the wccvil, even by calcium
arsenatc, will not OF itself make cot
ton.
On the other hand, intense cultiva-
ton will not of itself, indcpedent OF
direct control, successfully make cot
ton in the event of a wet, humid July
and August A wet summer will create
anywhere in the belt a weevil iniesta-
ton that can be controlled in part by
intense cultivation, but not to point
of genuinely successful yield That
is why have discussed cotton farming
from the basic standpoint always OF
normal conditions. We cannot assume
that conditions in any locality will be
other than normal; and yet frequently
they are. Hence ! say every well or
gained farmer will be prepared to
meet by direct control the wecvil prob
lem, make indirect control less eff
ficient.
7 don't think there can be any argu-
mcnt on the soundnd3s of such a con-
dition.
Winter Fight On Weevil Found
To Be Essential. ...
In this section where the wceviI has
been mastered only by radically rcduc-
ing the cotton acreage; by intensely
cultivating the smaller acreage thus
planted and by putting the major
acreage of each farm into pastures
grains, hay, peanuts, and so on, those
farmers who are getting the largest
yields from their cotton fields begin
to fight the weevil for an ensuing yeai
Immediately after the cotton is picked
just as early as practicable in the
fall
They begin turning the old stalk.
under. This furnishes potash to the
soil-something that the light land:
of the peanut growing sections espe-
cially need. 1t is estimated that the
potash given to the soil in this section
every year by this operation is worth
not less than S. an acre, figured com.
mercially and in cold dollars. There
are some sections, many in Georgia
where turning the stalks under in fall
IS perhaps impracticabie. There ar,
some farmers who cannot possibly dc
so. But in the light lands il is IA,
better to thus get the benefit Of tn,
potash than TO buy it, and. Of cours,
to do so the stalks must be turned
under in the fall There is no CUES
ton about the importance of this in
reducing weevil Information on tn,
specific farm.
a big factor in contending with tn,
wcevi is big open fields 1t recoc
nizes the over-wintered weevil as +;
controlling factor in successfully grow
ing cotton in spite of him. 1t is in thi,
regard, too, in which the progrcssiv,
cotton grower pf Shis section ha.
scored. He rotates his crops, keep
his land drained and il he expect!
to beat the weevil he plants his cot
ton on fields segregated from tn,
woods, old stumps, dead trees hedges
fences, etc, BY this plan he finds tn
initial infestation small and controlla
bic, as compared to the infcstation
in the same vicinity-wherc such dc
tails have been omitted by the farmers
Again the farmer who beats the Dol
weevil in these parts begins TO elm
mate him from the fields when h
first begins to appear in the plan
buds, shortly after the chopping.
have said time and again seriou
infestation is liable to develop Jun
or July when the first crop of weevi
offsprings for the season reach ma
turity and emerge ready to attac
the forming squares, or to punctur
the growing bolls. The adults, how
ever, that live through the winter be
gin to apear when the cotton fir.
begins to bud. therefore, the fir.
work as successfully practiced by ii
farmers here is to pick him from tt
bud as much as practicable, and
push rapid blowing so as to keep hi
turned under as we'll as to push ii
cotton ahead as fast as nature wi
carry it.
Hence, it is obvious that the owe
winter weevil must be reckonc
with-and while thus keeping the il
vaeiou of tha f;aids r., ,d.,f. o.-i.