The independent. [volume] (Elizabeth City, N.C.) 1908-1936, 1923-03-09
PLANT COTTON
SAYS ROBINSON
Local Man. Does Not Agree
With Manufacturers
Record

The Northeastern North
Carolina farmer who hcSitates
and fails to plant every acre OF
cotton that he can cultivate
and pick this year is going to
miss his big opportunity, is the
opinion of {. O. Robinson, one
of the most progressive and
successful farmers in Pasquo-
tank County.
Mr.. Robinson says he is putting
in every pound of cotton that his
labor can handle this year. BY max
ing an early start and using fcrti-
liZers rich in nitrogen and pho*phOric
acid, and with only u little potash,
Mr.. Robinson expects to mature his
cotton before the boil weCvi begins
to increase in disastrous numbers.
The boil wecvil has just begin to
show itself" says Mr.. Robinson. 'and
it is the history of the pest that it
takes it Il season to multiply suf-
ficiently to be disastrous now is our
opportunity to get in one more big
crop before the wcevil strikes hard.
1 am sure the price of cotton will
not be lower
Mr.. Robinson is not only grow
er, but Il buyer of cotton. His con-
illusions are the conclusions OF a
shrewd business man who knows the
cotton game from every angle.
But there are others who would dis
courage the growing of more cotton.
even with higher prices in sight. Fore
most among these is Richard II. Ed
mOnds, Editor of the Manufacturers
Record who says
''The higher prices of cotton which
have prevailed for some months. and
which judged by the worlds short
age should continue to advance.
would be Il curse rather than Il bless
ing. to the South, if they should tempt
the cotton growers to enlarge their
acreage, hoping to produce a bigger
crop. Cotton has in many respects,
from the days of slavery to this hour,
been Il curse to the South. 1t will be
made still greater curse if in spite
of the boil wcevil and other adverse
conditions Southern farmers should
concentrate their efforts again upon
cotton growing by putting in a large
acreage at the expense of diversified
farming.
1T bchOOvcs every man and
woman Interested in the permanent
welfare of the. South, in the better
mcnt of farm life, in the bettcrmcnt
of schools and churches, in larger
and broader vision Of the people, and
lind grcJter prosperity of all IN
tercsts to encourage at home the pro-
duction of everything which the South
consumes in the way of fOOdStuits
and fcedstuffS. If this section should
again be tempted by the advancing
prices of cotton to abandon the trend
to diversified farming and again bow
the knee before cotton as king 1t
would make one of the greatest econo-
mic blundcrs in its history.
Let it be forever understood that
the South, is under no moral obIl-
cation to raise cotton, and we ven
ture the assertion that no man IN
the South ever thinks of raising cot
ton on the basis of any moral ObllSa-
tion TO the world to do so. The man
who puts in an increased acreage Is
hoping that other men will put IN Il
smaller acreage and that he will win
By reason of their leSSCned yield,
and thus all cotton growers are IN
iurcd. Moreover. larger acreage
in cotton would make proper cultlVa-
tion an impossibility and the time and
energy and money thus expended
would be wasted.
at is true that the world is short
of cotton. but the world is eagerly
proclaiming this fact in order to en-
courage Southern farmers TO plant an
increased acreage. Back of much of
the propaganda in this country and
especially abroad about the world $
cotton shortage is the hope OF these
who are prOcIaiming that fact from
the houSctOpS that they may thus IN
ducc the South. tempted by this short
age and by rising prices to plant Tor
a big crop. If the word went out
tnat the NOulH Hdu P"I /" "
acreage, and entirely without regard
TO whether that acreage meant
larger total yield or not, prices would
instantly be beaten down for the COM
ing crop and the spectators would
once more reap their harvest at the
expense Of the Southern farmer and
Southern prosperity
But spite of Mr.. Edmonds, warn
ing. Northeastern North Carolina
farmers, are inclined to stake one
last throw of the dice on cotton IN
1923. Indications are for Il largely
increased cotton acreage in the Ellz-
abeth City territory. NJ