Part 2

During the growing season, many weevils can be destroyed by co-operating with the natural agencies that tend to reduce their number. For instance, the weevils in the punctured squares that fall on the hot ground in July and August and are not shaded, are usually killed at once by the heat or will starve for lack of food, because of the hardening of the square. By using a brush on the cultivators to agitate the plants when cultivating the crop, many punctured squares will be knocked off onto the hot ground sooner than they would naturally fall off. At the same time, some of the adult weevils will also be shaken off onto the hot ground. When an adult weevil is thrown on a surface of finely pulverized, hot soil, it is killed almost instantly.

=Attempts to Destroy Weevils with Poison:= In territory newly infested with the boll weevil, attempts continue to be made to destroy the weevils by poisoning. Of course the farmers soon learn better, but the experience is very expensive. If advocates of poison would only remember that after the squares begin to form on the cotton, the boll weevils feed only by inserting their beaks deeply into the squares or bolls, they would realize that it is impossible to place poison where the weevils will feed upon it. In all the experiments performed in the field by the United States Bureau of Entomology, very heavy applications throughout the season have failed to show any advantage in the use of poison. Therefore, do not waste any money on poisons.

=Not Attracted by Light:= The weevil seldom moves at night. It is inactive after sundown. The weevil is never attracted to lights and hence the use of a trap lantern has no effect on them.

The Cotton Boll Weevil

Its History, Habits, Food Supply and Life Rate of Increase and Damage Done to Crops

=History:= The cotton boll weevil is not a native of the United States. It came from Mexico in 1892. It may have flown across the Rio Grande River near Brownsville, Texas, or it is possible that it was carried across in seed cotton. Since 1892, it has extended its range annually from fifty to one hundred and twenty-five miles until it has spread over Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi and a part of Alabama.

=Life and Habits:= The eggs are laid within the squares and bolls of the cotton plant. The weevil prefers the squares and seldom punctures a boll as long as there are numerous squares to puncture. The mouth of the adult weevil is located at the end of the snout. The weevil eats a small hole into the square or boll and then turns around and deposits one egg in the puncture and seals the hole with a small drop of a gluey substance to protect the egg from ants, rain and other destructive agencies. The weevil seldom deposits more than one egg in a square or boll until the squares and bolls become very scarce. The egg hatches in from three to fifteen days, depending on the temperature. The larvae is a tiny white footless grub, with a brown head and dark jaws. This grub feeds on the inside of the square or boll and passes into the pupae stage in from six to twelve days. The adult or mature weevil develops from the pupae stage in three to ten days and eats its way out of the square or boll.

=How to Know a Boll Weevil:= The safest plan for one who is not well acquainted with the boll weevil is to send any doubtful specimen to an entomologist or to a government expert. There are a few characteristics, however, that will assist anyone in separating the boll weevil from the numerous other weevils that are often mistaken for it. On each front leg of the boll weevil are two spines--one somewhat larger than the other. The snout has a black shining appearance and the "feelers" are near the outer end. The boll weevil is usually from one-fourth to three-eighths of an inch long and about half as broad. When they first come from the square or boll, they are almost pink but rapidly turn darker until they are of a dark brown or chocolate color.

=Weevils' Food Supply:= The foliage, squares and bolls on cotton stalks constitute the weevils' sole food supply. The Mexican cotton boll weevil never feeds upon okra, peas, beans or other plants unless captured and placed in confinement and then only to a slight extent.

=Rate of Increase:= The weevils that survive the winter begin to lay eggs when the first squares form on the cotton and successive broods continue to lay eggs until checked by heavy or killing frost in the late fall. Observations made by Drs. W. D. Hunter and W. E. Hinds, show that the female weevil deposits eggs at the rate of from three to five per day and continues to lay eggs for an average of twenty-eight days. The following is a quotation from Dr. W. D. Hunter, government entomologist in charge of the boll weevil work in the South: "A conservative estimate of the possible progeny of a single pair of weevils during the season beginning on June 20 and extending to November 4 is 12,755,000."

=Life Period of Weevil:= Weevils born during the early summer live from fifty to seventy-five days. Weevils that are born late in the fall hibernate and large numbers live through the winter and for about twenty days after emerging in the spring.

=Hibernation:= The immature weevils in the squares and bolls are usually killed during the winter. All adult weevils become dormant and the well protected weevils usually live through the winter and do great damage in the spring. The adult weevil spends the winter in hedges, broomsedge, woods, hay stacks, farm buildings, decayed logs, moss and dead trees.

Rotation of Crops

A Safe and Sane System of Crop Rotation in Boll Weevil Territory Absolutely Necessary

When the boll weevil first appears in a territory, the first efforts at breaking away from all cotton usually consist in going largely into another single crop system of farming rather than the production of a variety of crops. The evils of the new system are usually as great as those of the all cotton system. Many farmers rush into the truck business. Of course, truck crops should be grown on every farm in the weevil territory, and, in some particular localities, they may constitute the main reliance for cash, but it seems that the truck business is a gamble for the average cotton farmer. Trucking has lured many a farmer to financial ruin.

The crop rotation for the average cotton farmer should include oats, corn, some cotton, and at least one leguminous crop. Along with this should go the growing of hogs, mules, horses and cattle instead of having to buy them from other sections of the country.

It is not possible for the farmer in the boll weevil territory to entirely supplant cotton as a money crop, but this crop should be supplemented with the growing of home supplies, as well as other crops which will produce cash returns.

Cotton is one of the greatest cash crops, and while it should be the main money crop in the boll weevil territory north of latitude 32, it should not be the only cash crop grown. The safest plan either within or without the boll weevil territory is to follow a system of diversified farming. The cotton farmers, especially those in the boll weevil territory, cannot afford to depend entirely on cotton as a cash crop. A system of rotation suitable for cotton belt farmers should include some of the following staple crops:

_Oats are probably_ the surest and best paying small grain crop that can be grown over practically the entire cotton belt. The same soil that will produce one bale of cotton per acre will grow 60 bushels of oats. At the average price that has prevailed for oats during the past five years, the 60 bushels will sell for $36 to $40, and the straw, when baled, will often pay the larger part of the expense of growing the grain.

_The bale of cotton per acre land_ will produce about $30 worth of oats, at least one and a half tons of lespedeza hay, and five bushels of lespedeza seed. The lespedeza hay will sell for about $12 per ton and the lespedeza seed for about $3 per bushel. The total is $63 per acre. We are personally acquainted with a farmer who has averaged $65 per acre for eight years.

_Thirty dollars worth of oats_ and twenty bushels of soy beans at $1.50 per bushel, and one and a half tons of soy bean hay at $8 per ton, means $72 per acre. These are very conservative figures. At the Mississippi Delta Experiment Station in 1912 the land produced ninety bushels of oats to the acre, twenty-two and a half bushels of soy beans, "after losing a good percentage of the beans by shattering," and 5,200 pounds of soy bean hay. The average yield of cotton on the same land was about 500 pounds of lint per acre.

_Oats and vetch_ sown together furnish more and better grazing and better hay than either when sown separately. There is no better hay than oats and vetch cut in the dough stage. Few hays will sell for a better price on the market. The oat and vetch hay provides a much more satisfactory ration for horses and mules than corn or leguminous hay.

_Oats may be followed by cowpeas._ When the cowpeas are planted in rows on good land, well fertilized and cultivated, the yield is usually from ten to twenty bushels of peas and one and a half tons of hay. The peas usually sell for about $2 per bushel and the hay for about $12 per ton.

_Ninety bushels of oats_ and sixty-seven bushels of peanuts were produced on the same land at the Mississippi Delta Experiment Station in one year. At the present prices for peanuts and peanut hay, it is a very profitable crop to grow after oats when properly handled.

_When corn is planted_ on fertile soil thoroughly prepared, _properly fertilized_ and cultivated, the yield is usually about fifty bushels per acre. The average price per bushel is about 80 cents. Peas planted in corn at the last working will usually average about eight bushels of peas and a ton or more of valuable hay. The peavine hay can be harvested by live stock.

_The growing of live stock_ will help to create extensive home markets for roughage and leguminous crops, keep the money at home that is usually sent to the north and west for pork products, mules, horses, hay, beef, and so on, and at the same time add greatly to the fertility of the soil. Pork can be produced in the cotton belt more easily than any other live stock. It would not be wise for the average cotton farmer to devote his farm exclusively to hog raising, yet it will certainly pay him to produce enough pork for home use and some to sell to supplement the money formerly obtained for cotton.

Chickens, turkeys, ducks and other poultry sell for good prices and every cotton farmer in the weevil territory should raise some poultry for sale.

The Labor Problem

Plenty of good labor is an absolute necessity in growing cotton under boll weevil conditions. The tendency of newly infested districts is to neglect the laborer at the time when he needs support and encouragement. Thousands of families have moved out of a single county in one season to other cotton sections, while if they had been given a little encouragement to grow corn, grain, cowpeas, hogs, vegetables in his own garden, etc., he would have remained in the community where he is much needed.

The farmers, planters, merchants and bankers must unite and see to it that the laborers have the actual necessities of life. He should be encouraged to grow his home supplies, a little cotton, a few chickens and his own pork. This method would put farming on a basis which will eliminate and do away with the necessity of sending to the north and west for bacon, lard, mules, corn, hay and other supplies. By working together and keeping our laborers satisfied we will keep them in the community where they are needed to till the soil and help build up our farms.

The Debt Problem

When traveling in weevil territory, we meet farmers almost daily who are anxious to sell their farms at from one-third to one-fifth of their real value. The farmers tell us that they are in debt and will never be able to pay out. They say that the boll weevil has come to destroy their cotton--their sole cash crop.

Now these farmers are mistaken on two counts. First, cotton is not the only surplus money crop; second, the boll weevil does not prevent the growing of profitable crops of cotton in normal seasons. The cotton money is now used to pay for corn, bacon, lard, mules and hay. When the tenants and farmers all live at home and practice the most rigid economy, the cotton money will soon pay all debts.

Life on the farm is robbed of practically all of its pleasures as long as we pay fifty per cent credit profits and the creditor constantly knocks at the door. The only people who really suffer in periods of hard times are the men who are in debt; men who owe money and are often compelled to sacrifice their property to meet the imperative demands of their creditors. The farmer who is out of debt when the boll weevil comes and has an abundance of high class food supplies on his farm is not materially affected. Many of the cotton farmers who are in debt when the boll weevil comes lose their homes.

Labor Saving Implements

The following is an extract from an address delivered at Greenville, Miss., in the boll weevil territory, by Dr. S. A. Knapp, a man who did more for real genuine progress in the South than any other one man has ever done. "The farmer who uses modern machinery in planting and cultivating his crop will succeed, and the one who does not will make a failure. The old way of making a crop by hand by the use of the hoe and plow must soon be a thing of the past. We must come to use the modern implements and the sooner we let the negro understand that he must work his crop in this way, the better off we shall be."

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.

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.

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.