Fitzgerald leader enterprise and press. (Fitzgerald, Ben Hill County, Ga.) 1921-1964, 1924-01-10
Holu To Grouu Cotton
Despite The Boil Weeuil

pest suited to your soil and conditions,
A high grade fertilizer with a heavy
content of quickly available nitrogen is
probably best.
THIRD-P1ant early but not too
early. Cotton should be planted at
such time if possible as to insure that
it will come up quickly and grow off
| rapidly. Care should be taken to plant
good seed. Select some good early ma
turing variety and secure the best Sc
lected seed of this variety you can
get. The annual loss sustained by far
mers from planting poor seed is enor-
nous. A careful checking of the aver
age cotton field in September will
show a percentage of stalks with no
fruit Eliminate these by careful seed
selection. If you have failed to do this
it will pay well to secure planting seed
from someone who was careful in Sc
lection.
FOURTH-Cultivate shallow and
often. First civilizations may be made
with harrow or weeder. Be sure and
leave good stand. Sufficient evidence
apparently has been accumulated to
convince anyone that 1-2 foot rows
spaced the width of hoe, two or
more stalks to the hill, is the best spa
cling. Continue cultivation until crop
is practically matured and keep as
clean as possible. A crop is always de-
layed if not actually stunted when cu1-
tivation gets behind and the crop gets
grassy, even though you do clean it
out later. To delay the growing and
fruiting under weevi1 conditions nearly
always results in serious loss.
FIFTH-Fight the boil weevil with
determination. By Ia clearing all rub
Dish and brush about the farm. Use fire
freely on hedges and bitches about the
farm but do not burn off stubblc, stalks
etc from your fields. Plow this under
and let it rot and add plant food to Your
soil. By (b) keeping a close watchout
for the weevil which may be expect
ed to appear as early as the cotton be-
gins to grow. The weevil will be found
in the buds of the cotton plants and
may be seen very plainly for three to
five yards by one who will look care
fully and who cares for his welfare and
that OF his family. 1t will pay handsome
ly to destroy these old weevil either
by picking them off Or by poisoning
in the bud of the cotton with calcium
arsenate, because they are to be the an
cestors of all the thousands and mil
lions that may later destroy your crop.
If you killed all these as they came from
Information you would have no young
Weev1l to bother your crop for there
are no Young ones in the spring and
cannot be until your crop has squares
large enough to accommodate the weev-
lis eggs or in which she NAV make
her nest for such length of time there
after as is required for the develop
ment through the several stages to the
adult which is in the early summer
about twenty-one days. This means
there can be no weevil to attack your
cotton except those that have sue
cessfully hibernated or passed the win
ter about your farm fully one month |
after your cotton has begun to square |
because the cotton square must be |
about ten days old before it is large
enough to accommodate the egg and |
stages of the weevil. If this |
idea shall be thoroughly gotten over |
to the cotton grower it will very great
ly reduce the danger of his serious loss |
from weevil damage.
Let's not fail to get the significance
Of the fact that every year under all |
weather conditions that have existed
there are in practically every local !
community farmers who are able to
make good yields and profit on the
cotton crop. A careful study of these
instances will conclusivcly prove that !!
the principles above suggested are fun
damental and that if and when follow
ed success is practically assured. 1t is
A tact, OF course, that the cotton crop |
Will require more attention and more |
care and, of course the acreage should |
not be larger than can be handled.
Every crop should be pitched so as
to- insure ample grain and forage for
all live stock and ample food for the
family. If these supplies are produced
we will need much less cotton, because
most of our cotton has always gone to
pay our bill for these necessaries. Al |
50 if ample feed and food crops are |
planned the cotton acreage will Incl |
dentally be reduced to a point con-
forming with the advice of experts re-
gardlng cotton acreage under weevil |
conditions. Plan for cash income
from month to month as nearly as pos
5ible throughout the year. A few milk