How to Prosper in Boll Weevil Territory

Boll weevils attacking growing cotton boll

The Personal Element in the Boll Weevil Fight

By B. L. Moss
Editor Progressive Farmer, Birmingham, Alabama.

A man’s personal attitude and convictions play a large part in his successes and failures in all walks of life, and nowhere is the truth more apparent than in a farmer’s attitude toward the boll weevil problem.

Before the coming of the weevil, it is looked upon by nine farmers out of ten as a remote danger, doubtful in time of arrival and greatly exaggerated in its possibilities for damage. No preparations for it are made, the farm mortgage is left hanging like a cloud over the family homestead, and the old methods so long in vogue are left unchanged.

Then the crash comes! The obsolete methods of the past are worthless against the weevil; the cotton crop is swept away, interest on the mortgage is unpaid, and its foreclosure is certain. This picture is the rule and not the exception.

Such a situation calls forth the real qualities of the man. Many a farmer, for the first few years of the weevil invasion, has proven a quitter. He has failed because he did not think he could succeed. Usually he has been the identical man who failed to believe in and prepare for the coming of the weevil.

The exceptional man has believed in and prepared for the weevil’s coming, and he has succeeded. Incidentally, his success has shown out as a beacon light to his doubting neighbors and has ultimately pointed the way for them.

Five years’ experience tells me that you can raise cotton profitably in the presence of the boll weevil. The HOW of the matter is given by others in this booklet, but you, YOU, must take it up with the spirit of FIGHT. Believe that you can, swear that you will, and success is yours.

Lespedeza a great hay crop for the lower South

The Boll Weevil’s Influence in the Regeneration of the South

By H. Guy Hathorn, Planter, Woodville, Miss.

For many years the one crop system has been the bane of the cotton belt. When land was virgin, cheap and plentiful, the evil was not so apparent, and the necessity for a saner system was not so pressing. A depleted soil, unreliable labor and various other factors caused certain individuals to see the error of their way, and induced them to adopt a diversified system and the use of labor-saving implements. It was necessary for the great majority to receive a paralyzing shock before they would make any material change; that shock came in the shape of the boll weevil. As certain alternative medicines create great debility and languor of the body before the curative power can become operative, so has all business in any way connected with the growing of cotton suffered depression as a preliminary to the greater financial vigor and strength that comes after a few years’ experience with stock raising and diversification as the rule, and with cotton occupying a secondary place in the farm operation.

Letter from the Late Dr. S. A. Knapp to G. H. Alford

Of course the heavy rains have been favorable to the weevil, and nothing else could have been expected in weevil territory than the weevil should appear and be rather plentiful on the young cotton. But our experience in this boll weevil fight is that it is far better to have a wet period at this time than later, when the plant is much larger and the squares more numerous. The farmer is inclined to look at the dark side of things. This early rain is rather a favorable symptom than otherwise because, in all probability, it will clear off and be warm and dry. In 1907 we had just such a period of rain a trifle later than this. It cleared off and in a few weeks nine-tenths of the weevil, so far as reported, had disappeared. The man who energetically clears out his cotton as soon as the weather permits and strictly follows our plan of intensive cultivation, will be quite sure to make a fair crop.

We are not afraid of these early rains; it is the late rain, because if the planter now follows our plan and picks up the squares for a month, the weevils will be pretty nearly exterminated. In fact, if everybody would do it the weevil would do very little damage. But when there is a period of continuous rain after the plant has nearly matured, it is a much more difficult problem to handle. The sun has less access to the plant and it is more difficult to secure all the fallen squares.

The greatest problem with which we have had to deal in boll weevil territory is the hopeless view of the farmer. He wants to plow up his cotton and put in something else, or he refuses to give his cotton the attention which it requires. If he follows our plan thoroughly he will succeed, and in future will make his crop hopefully as he did before the boll weevil appeared.

Picking Weevils and Squares

The following is the substance of a number of letters from Mississippi farmers relative to picking weevils and squares: Mr. T. L. Rush says that the first time he caught an average of fifty weevils per acre and the second time twenty-eight. The cost of picking the weevils was about fifty cents per acre. He gathered the punctured squares seven times at a cost of about $2.50 per acre. Mr. C. S. Rowland picked the weevils and squares on thirty-five acres of cotton at a cost of $43.60. Mr. J. W. Shelton picked an average of sixty-five weevils per acre off his little cotton for four weeks at a cost of 25 cents per hundred. Mr. J. M. Crawford found 268 weevils the first time; two hundred and fifty the second time, one hundred and ninety-seven the third time and one hundred and fifty the fourth time. He gathered one bushel of squares the first time and three bushels a second time. The cost was about $20.00 on the ten acres. Mr. A. W. Harrell picked over two acres of cotton three times and got one hundred and fifty weevils and seven hundred squares. It cost him about $2.00 per acre.

Profitable Farming in South

G. H. Alford, one of the agents of the government representing the agricultural department, talked to business men and planters at the Vicksburg Cotton Exchange last week and said some good things, among them the following:

“The planters who keep their laborers and force them to grow plenty of corn, rice, potatoes, molasses, hogs and poultry for home use and to cultivate say six or seven acres of cotton, according to government instructions, will grow more prosperous every year. They will not grow as much cotton, but it will not be necessary for them to send two-thirds of the money obtained for cotton to other sections of the country to pay for farm products. Boll weevil or no weevil, prosperity will be the rule in Warren county when all of her people live on the products of the farms and grow cotton as a surplus crop. I meet planters every day who are anxious to sell their plantations. They tell me they are in debt and will never be able to raise the mortgage. They say that the boll weevil is here to destroy cotton—their money crop. They are mistaken on two counts. Profitable crops of cotton can be grown in spite of the boll weevil and cotton is not now a surplus money crop. They will grow profitable crops of cotton as a surplus crop in a year or so. They will then all live at home and grow say two-thirds as much cotton. The cotton money will then raise the mortgages instead of paying for corn, bacon, lard, mules, hay, etc. The boll weevil means diversified farming and stock raising. This means fertile soil and good farming. Fertile soil and good farming means high priced land. The boll weevil will probably keep the price of land down for two or three years, but diversified agriculture and the raising of good hogs, cattle, mules, horses and other stock will force the price up and up until it will sell for four or five times its present market value. Let every planter hold a tight grip on his land. There is no excuse for the blues. The northern farmers are getting rich. They cannot grow cotton. They cannot grow sugar cane, rice and many other crops that can be grown in Warren. Any crop will grow here that the northerners can grow. Diversified farming and stock raising and the growing of cotton as a surplus crop will put Warren county on the high road to genuine prosperity.

Pigs idea of heaven

A Very Instructive Letter

Letter from C. R. Byrnes, Natchez, Miss., to G. H. Alford: “We are just closing our second year of serious disaster from this little pest. We show a decided improvement in 1910 over the year of 1909. Our acreage is about one-half of what it was last year and we will make about the same crop as last year. In my individual case, I made last year seventeen bales on 150 acres; this year I will make the same crop on eighty acres. You are aware that I do not live on my own farm and have only negro tenants. I have directed the management by not exceeding two visits to the farm each week during the working season and have followed the government’s directions as well as I could, situated as I am. If I had lived on my farm far better results could have been obtained. I have now more corn than I will require for next year’s crop and a good start of hogs and cattle. My farm has been more than self-sustaining this year and I believe I will have a splendid return next year, as I have so little to buy.

A tractor turning four furrows

My success is due to the aid of Government instructions. To illustrate: One of my negro tenants, when I told him in the month of May that he must send his entire family into his cotton patch and pick every punctured square from the cotton stalks and burn them and also kill the weevils to be found, objected; said he did not believe in it. I replied that the instructions were not original with me, that they were from the United States Government, after a fifteen years’ study of the boll weevil, and if he thought he knew more about it than the Government I would try to place him in the employ of the Government and get one of their men to come and work his crop under his, the tenant’s, direction. This remark had the desired effect. He got the weevils and will make three bales of cotton on eight acres, while he made only one and one-half bales on sixteen acres last year.

Being a member of our Board of Supervisors, I insisted that our President, manager of the convict farm, plant five acres in cotton and work it under Government’s instructions. He was opposed to planting any cotton. I insisted on it, stating that I was not after the money it would bring, but wanted it as an experiment and aid to our farmers, knowing that the labor was there under absolute control, and that there would be no reason why it could not be properly farmed. The five acres were planted and properly worked—two heavy bales have been ginned and another light bale will be picked. Now this was on thin upland, fertilized and worked as you would have directed. Splendid results, is it not?

You are aware that this year and last year gave us too much rain in our section to successfully combat the weevil, but we have doubled the yield under similar conditions for each year and this increase is certainly due to the good work done by the Government in our behalf. Many more farmers will next year follow more closely your instructions and if we can get a normal season as to rainfall, the cotton crop will, in my opinion, show much more decidedly the value of the Government’s work.

No doubt but this pest will spread until it covers the entire cotton belt of the south. I can see work for you all the way to the Atlantic Seaboard—work in front of you and work behind you. Have you ever thought what a barren waste there might have been in the wake of this little giant were it not for the valuable assistance rendered by our Government? As it is we cover up his tracks almost as fast as they are made. Stand by us until we are able to stand alone. Then you and all connected with you in this good work will forever have the heart-felt thanks of all the farmers here.”

The modern method of preparing the soil

Boll Weevil Literature

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Agricultural Extension Department
Harvester Building
Chicago, Ill.