336 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



the entire State of Louisiana. Until July the season had much more 

 than normal rainfall east of Texas, followed by a general and con- 

 tinued drought lasting until lale.in the fall. In parts of Louisiana 

 the droughts did not connnence until later, and the extreme rains 

 produced a condition which prevented tiie farmers from getting into 

 their fields to carry out the instructions given them. There were 

 many other causes besides the weevil to reduce the crop in IMississippi 

 and Louisiana in 1909, such as lack of labor, reduced acreage, floods, 

 extreme rains, and other conditions. The spring of 1010 was an 

 imusual one in that the entire South enjoyed warm weather in the 

 month of ^Larch to such an extent as to indicate an early season. This 

 was immediately followed by rains and the killing frost of April 25 

 and 20, 1910, which was general in southern territory except the im- 

 mediate Gulf coast. Following the frosts were continuous and hea\'7 

 rains until late in the month of Jul}', making it difficult for the farm- 

 ers to properly cultivate their crops. 



Influence of the work. — One of the greatest things accom- 

 plished by the Farmers' Cooperative Demonstration Work in 1909 

 and the spring of 1910 has been the full restoration of confidence 

 in the entire boll-weevil territory. During the season of 1909 a 

 valiant eli'ort was made in Mississippi and Louisiana to prevent the 

 planters and farmers from becoming panic-stricken, and to prevent 

 them from plowing up their crops or abandoning them to the weevil. 

 The results accomplished in 1909 have been so marked that confi- 

 dence has been absolutely restored and the farmers and business 

 men generally throughout the boll-weevil territory are working with 

 every confidence in the result, in spite of the adverse weather condi- 

 tions confronting them. In this victory the Department has enjoyed 

 the assistance of the business interests of the entire boll-weevil sec- 

 tion. Merchants and bankers in some localities have even gone so 

 far as to refuse advances to farmers unless they agree to follow 

 the methods and practices advocated by the Department of Agri- 

 culture. In accomplishing this result not a little credit is due to 

 the fact that during the season of 1909 there were literally thou- 

 sands of farmers in badly infested boll-weevil territory who made 

 better than an average crop of cotton by following the DejDartment 

 instructions in localities where no crop was made by persons who 

 failed to follow such instructions. 



DiA"ERSiFiCATiON OF CROPS. — Througliout the entire Southern 

 States covered by this work there has been a marked tendency toward 

 diversification of the agricultural interests in a territorv where 

 formerly cotton was almost the sole cash crop. For example, while 

 eastern Texas under boll-weevil conditions is not raising quite so 

 much cotton in the aggregate as formerly, cotton is still largely 

 grown, and in addition the home supplies are being produced. For 

 the first time the farmers have been able to produce corn and hay 

 for shipment, and this section is fast becoming one of the great 

 fruit and truck raising districts of the country. Prominent and reli- 

 able business men and farmers of eastern Texas declare that this 

 territory was never so prosperous as at present, and that their 

 farmers have learned to produce cotton in spite of the boll weevil, 



