The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1922-01-26
$500 Per Year in Advance.
Tell the Farmers How to Make
Cotton Under Weeul Conditions

Last Wednesday quite a number OF
farmers attended a meeting at Den
mark at which experts told the farm
ars the best methods to follow in the
production of cotton under bill wee
vii conditions. A great deal of inter
est was manifested in the meeting
as was evidenced by the questions
asked.
The object of the series of meet
ings, of which this was one, is to
get the farmers acquainted with al
the available information in regard
to the weeyil, it's destructiveness, and
the best known methods Of combating
the weevil. 1t is not the purpose OF
the speakers to boost the planting OF
cotton; they very frankly tell the
farmers that they may never again
expect cotton to be the crop it once
was, but such an important world
crop deserves the best possible at
tention, and the idea is to get just as
much cotton as possible from the
acreage planted, but it is stressed
that the acreage should necessarily
be small. Below is given the re-
marks of the speakers in condensed
form.
DR.. J. N. Harper, who is director
of the soil improvement committee
of Atlanta said that fertilizer Is not
used for the lands sake but for the
sake of the plant. This fact, he stat
ed, was now being pretty generally
known.
Nitrogen makes the weed grow
and delays the maturity of the cot
ton CROP" he said, and increases the
ratio from stem to root. Phosphoric
acid is the balancing element and
stimulates root development. 1t helps
to carry nitrogen from the plant to
the fruit. To get ahead Of the boil
weeyil you must induce quick fruit
age. Legumes make nitrogen in the
iand. Unless nitrogen can be OBJ
tanned in that way it would be too
expensive to get it. DR.. Harper
further stated that it might be too
expensive to turn under legumes,
therefore, he stated, the best thing
to do is to rotate the crops.
DR.. Harper advised that the per-
centage of potash heretofore used in
this county be decreased.
J. o. Taylor, Of the states rela-
tion service, advised that now is the
time for warm feet and cool heads -
Poison Effective.
81 saw people passed through the
stage the Bamberg county people are
passing through" he stated, and
many came through all right. The
fight against the boil weevil with cal
cium arsenate poisoning has been
effective Mr.. Taylor said that all
the failures where calcium arsenate
poisoning was used which had been
analyzed by him and the government
department had found out to be
the result of failure to adhere to
some deail of the method of mixing
or using the poison. He gave the
names of number Of planters in
Louisiana, Mississippi and Arkansas
who made large increases Of cotton
by using calcium arsenate poisoning.
''Start poisoning when the weevils
have punctured from 10 to Is per
cent. of the squares and don't use
poison on land growing less than !
bale to the acre."
To figure out when the weeVil has
infested between 10 and Is per cent.
of the field, do this: Locate a stalk
of 100 squares in each of the four
corners of the field and the center;
pull off the punctured squares and
figure the percentage of these pune
lures against 500. He advised pois-
oning only one section Of the field
if it is found that only that portion
of the field is infested between 10
and Is per cent. Begin to look for
the weevil when the cotton is 4 inches
high, he said. He said he does not
advise picking up the squares from
the ground as not much good can
be accomplished thereby.
Mr.. Taylor said most failures in the
use of calcium arsenate resulted from
neglect to use this material as ad-
vised oy the United States govern
ment after much research. He ad-
vised against the use Of molasses
poison.
He advised every precautlon
against injury to cattle. He said poi
son should be applied mainly at night
sometimes late in the afternoon or