The Manning times. (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, May 03, 1922, Section One Pages 1 to 10, Page Page Six, Image 6
MR. COTTON FARMEN
If one of your neighbors should say to you, Lhave been thinking seriousl of this Boll Weevil
mar ' "Nproposition and I have determined that I will not turn my farm over to him. I propose to fight him
-Will you join me? Then suppose you tell him that you will-SO.FAR SO GOOD. Then if you
should adopt a method by which you prevent the weevil from destroying your crop, what assurance
, , . rhave-you that your neighbor farmers will put up the fight? therefore, when the weevil begins to
migrate. in August, do you not realize that the weevil from the other farms will destroy your et'op,
with exceptions of a few bolls that have matured before the weevil begins to migrate,.which the Goy
ernment authorities all tell us is on or about August 15th. If you and your neighbors should have the
determination to fight the weevil'and can enlist the aid of the farmers whose fields join yours, white
or colored, do you not realize that this is protection to your crop? Then if you enlarge upon this
plan to take in the next neighbor on the other side whose field adjoins yours, then the next one on the
other side of his field, and so on indefinitely, then your field will be protected.
I have been studying this Boll Weevil proposition for several weeks, have been to Washington
twice, reading all of the Boll Weevil literature obtainable, going to the Congressional Library and
obtaining Bulletins of the latest date, February, 1922. The last report shows that the weevil cover
ed 66,662 square miles new territory last year, of which 15,700 is in North Carolina.
I have a map showing the steady march of the Boll Weevil since he invaded Mexico in 1892. I
judge from the appearance of the size of the map that the territory covered in 1892 would not cover
more space than a good size county. He has extended his territory every year since that date, and the Government reports show that he has never lost an inch
in invading a territory-HE MOVES STEADILY FORWARD-NEVER GOES BACK. I think I understand one of the reasons why he never goes back. In
all of the literature I have been able to obtain, and in all the conversations that I have had with the men who have studied the Boll Weevil in Washington and Geor
gia where I have just been visiting the State Agricultural College,.I find that there has never been a united effort to stop him. What little fighting has been done
has been single handed and alone. When a lone farmer fights him out of his field for a few weeks, it is only temporary for he comes right in again from the field of
the non-fighting farmer.
The largest cotton planter in Clarendon County is not planting a hill of cotton this season. So far all preventives of the weevil have been so expensive, that he
claims no money can be made under these methods of extermination.
I have a plan by which we can work out a co-operative scheme, and I have the promised assistance in working out this scheme of Mr. L. I. Parrot, Attorney
for the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, a man whom I presume most of the leading farmers of Clarendon County are well acquainted with. I understand that he
was clerk of court of Sumter County for many years. He has promised to be with us Saturday, May 13th, from noon until 6 p. m. He proposes to assist us in
perfecting an Association of Boll Weevil Extermination. I will give you a brief outline of his plan:
For illustration-We will consider Gable as the hub of a wheel, with ten spokes, ten miles long, which means ten districts ten miles long, which covers a terri
tory twenty miles in diameter, or seventy-five square miles.
Please consider this an invitation to you and all of your neighbors to come to Gable on that date, bringing all the colored farmers, for if you succeed in exter
minating the weevil from your farm and the colored farmer does not do so, you do not derive the full benefit from efforts extended.
We are erecting a scaffold in Gable behind the picture show building ten feet high, on which we are erecting a flag pole ten feet high, on which wepropose
to attach a cotton line long enough to extend out one hundred feet from the ground to post seven feet high, these lines represent the spokes in the wheel the space
between the lines represent districts.
My plan is, for the farmers assembled to decide which of these districts they live in. I have a map which shows the location of every farm house in the terr
tory, and by looking at this map every farmer can decide which district he lives in. Mr. Parrot's plan is for each district to work under supervision of a Captain
selected by the-farmers in that district. When Mr. Parrot arrives he will ascend the platform described above, and the farmers of District No. 1 will select
their Captain, and he will take his stand on the platform with Mr. Parrot. The farmers of District No. 2 will, select their Captain, also 3, 4. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 will do
likewise. After which Mr. Parrot will take charge of the meeting, and outline his plan of action. The meeting will then be in the hands of the farmers and it is un
derstood that they will complete the organization of the Association of the Boll Weevil Exterminator No. 1. I expect this Association to spread from Coast to
Coast, I expect, instead of being ten miles long, it will run into the ocean on the East, into the Gulf on the South, into the non-cotton producing states on the North
and West.
I have arranged to have a Secretary located in Gable. Mrs. H. W. McFaddin has consented to take chargeof the office to do the clerical work required, which will
consist of keeping a card record of the operation of every cotton farmer in this territory. Mrs. McFaddin is so well known in the community that she needs no
introduction here and her ability was proven during the years spent in the office of the Black River Cypress Co. Mr. Parrot will outline to you the work you are ex
pected to do if you propose to co-operate with your neighbors, to assist Mrs. McFaddin in arranging the files, which will be necessary for her to keep. I am print
ing herewith coupons which I would like for every cotton farmer in this territory to fill out, showing the acreage planted on his farm, also four other coupons
on which I would be pleased for him to have filled out by interested farmers in their district who are not attending this meeting.
It has been said that the Boll Weevil is a God-sent pest-that they did not believe they could be exterminated.
I venture the assertion that there is not a word in the Bible that can be construed as teaching that the Creator placed any kind of a Fish, Fowl animal or insect
or any kI d of a flying, swimming, walking, crawling or any other kind of a living thing on the face of the earth that He did not give such a nature that man is or
can be its master. On the contrary we read in the first Chapter of Genesis, verse 28, "And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and
replenish the earth and subdue it and HAVE DOMINION over the fish of the sea, over the fowl of the air and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth."
It has taken man longer to learn the method by which this insect can be controlled and even exterminated than it has taken to learn how to eontrol many that
have gone before him. For instance, the mosquito that transmits the yellow fever germ, the flea by which the rat carries the boubonic plague, the cattle tick that
a few years ago prevent the southern farter from shipping his livestock into non-infested territory. Suppose the Louisiana farmer twenty years'ago had con
structed a dipping vat and dipped all of his cattle every twenty-one days, if he had kept that up for these twenty years and in the meantime, had producedthe finest
herd of cattle that was ever assembled in one pasture, it would have been impossible for him to sell one member of this herd for shipment into non-infested terr
tory. Also, it would have been necessary for him to keep up this dipping process every twenty-one days during the tick breeding season of tiis twenty-one years
for every time one of his cattle strayed near the fence, it would come in contact with cattle covered with ticks and this good farmer's herd would soon be infested
like the others.
On page ten, Farmers Bulletin 1262, we read: "An interesting habit of the B'ol! Weevil, is to feign death," "sull or possum," and fall to the ground when dis
turbed."
I have talked with a great many farmers, to whom I have read this paragraph and have not yet met one that did not agree that this habit is very strong in
the adult weevil that lives through the winter and attacks the young cotton plant in the spring.
I have also learned that the average life of this weevil is not over forty-five days after he begins to suck the sap from the cotton stalks-, therefore, Iam con
vinced that if the fighting farmer will go over his cotton field twice a week from the time it begins to putting on.squares until the weevil begins to migrate in Aug.
he will have no weevils to migrate and will only be bothered by the weevils that enter his field from a field of the non-fighting farmer, therefore, if the farmers in
the cotton belt co-operate and fight the weevil persistently it will not be long until they will have him under as perfect control as the cattle farmer now has the cattle
tick.
Bring your neighbors and come to the meeting at Gable, S4 C, Saturday, Mayll3th, 1922, at 2 P. M. Christal Store
will provide free refreshments for all visiting farmers. . C. C. CHRISTAL.
.1 PLED)GE OR PROMISE OF A PLEDGE OR PROMfSE OF A PLEDGE OR PROMISE OF A PLEDGE OR PROMISE OF A PLEDGE OR PROMIsE OF
(0OPERATiON CO-OPERATION CO-OPERATION CO-OPERATION CO-OPERATION
. . hereby hereby [__..-- _------hereby L--- - - hereby i
promise my neighbors that I will join promise my neighbors that I will jon promise my neighboms that I wilt join promise my neighbors that I will loin promise
them in fighting the weevil Also them n fighting the weevil. Also them in fighting the weevil. Also them in fighting the weevil Also them I
Ihat I will be governed by the action that I will be governed by the action that I will he governed by the action that I will be governed by the action that I
of a majority of the farmers in my of a majority of the farmers in my of a majority of the farners in my of a majority of the farmers in my of a mi
district. I will co-operate with them district. I will co-operate with them district. I will to-operate with them district. I will co-operate with them district
and for the season of 1922 will fight and for the season of 1922 will fight and for the eason of 1922 will fight and for the season of 1922 will fight and for
as they fight, and will faithfully ad- as they fight, and will faithfully ad- as they fight, and will faithfully ad- as they fight, and wil faithfully ad- as they
here to the rules laid down by the here to the rules laid down by the here to the rules laid down by the here to the rules laid down by the here to
Executive ('onumittee of the Associa- Executive Committee of the Assocla- Ex~ecutive Committee of the Asmocia- Executive Committee of the Associa- Executiv omte fteAsca
lion No. I of loll Weevil Extermina- lion No. 1 of oll Weevil Extcrnina- tion No. 1 of Boll Weevil Extermina- tion No. I of Boll Weevil Extermina- tion No
tors. tors. tor, tors. tors.
My cotton acreage this year is My cotton acreage this year is My cotton acreage this year is My cotton acreage this year is MY
acres. I plan to use.. I plan to use -acres. I plan to L--- .-.acres. I plan to usehereby---------ares....lantores
promsebout- -.-.. ls. of fertilizers about---------bs. of fertilizers about....i.n....lbs. of fcrtiliers about
P ;hr ace per acre. per acre. per ac
i.I.I.N.----. it. F. I). No.------------------ ---It. F. D. No.----------------------R. F. E.N.
1)i Diistrilct No.------- _.... _- - lDistrict No._- --._.- District No._- .-- - - iistrktN.
P. 0.------------------------------I w.O
I.L1 YZ I. rr rY 1 rY .I'I1
an for t eo of 1922 wil fight
as te g di Ai -