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tributea over a large portion of Texas, the largest cotton-producing State in 

 the United States, and is invading the western l)orders of Louisiana, leaving in 

 its wake desolation and often despair. 



When Sherman made his long and nienioral)le march to the sea. he left no 

 soldiers behind to menace and annoy; new crops sprang up to feed the pe(>i)le, 

 new herds soon poi)ulated the fields and meadows, new homes were built from 

 the i)roducts of the forests, and prosperity and happiness followed soon in the 

 path of peace. But when this great army comes on its nnssion of destruction, 

 it comes, so far as everything now indicates, to tai^e permanent possession of the 

 land. This ever-multiplying army is rapidly pushing its conquest eastward, 

 and there seems to he no hope of i)lacing a barrier before it that is insurmount- 

 able. It is only a matter of a few years till the entire cotton-producing area 

 will be infested. 



It is a question of vital importance to know what we are going to do when 

 the boll weevil is with us all over the South. 



Those who have studied the question most tell us that we mu.st change our 

 system of agriculture, that an intensified and modified system of cultivation 

 and fertilization must be practiced, that the cotton acreage must be diminished 

 and a system of rotation and diversification adopted, to aid in combating the 

 effect of this pest. That we must raise more of what is consumed on the farm 

 and make the cotton crop a surplus crop — that is, what we can raise in spite of 

 the boll weevil. 



But this is not a proposition easy of accomplishment. These great changes 

 must be brought about in a few years with people who are already advanced 

 in age, as well as with the young farmers. Those who have had experience 

 in trying to teach new methods will appreciate how ditticult this is. and the 

 difiiculties become magnified In proportion to the ignorance of the man you have 

 to deal with. A large proportion of the cotton crop is produced by the negro, 

 and at present he seems inseparably wedded to this crop. There are many 

 .stories of distress and poverty among the negroes and poor whites in the boll- 

 weevil section of Texas, and in many instances they have been saved from actual 

 starvation by the generosity of the more fortunate sections. And yet, these 

 people show very little dispositicni to try to i»roduce on the farms crops needed to 

 meet their daily wants. Thousands of people have moved out to other States 

 where there are no boll weevils, and are continuing the cultivation of cotton, 

 but the time will soon come when they will not be able to do this and must turn 

 and face the enemy, and stand to their guns. 



What will be the effect on the agriculture of the country when we have 

 adopted what is suggested by the wise ones, supposing that the suggested solu- 

 tion is the only one to be found and that it can be v^arried out? Suppose the 

 tenant farmer begins to raise his own meat and meal and other food stuff. The 

 landowner who has depended largely upon his mercantile dealings with the ten- 

 ant for making his profits that sustain him and i)rotect his rentals nuist look to 

 other sources of revenue; the packing houses in St. Louis, Kansas City. Chi- 

 cago, and other ijacking centers nuist seek another outlet for a large iwrtion of 

 their output. The nulls of the grain sections will lose an important field of 

 revenue. The farmers of the stock-raising and gi'ain-]iroducing sections nuist 

 throw their products on a more restricted market and suffer a depression of 

 prices. 



Suppose the cotton i>roducer should begin to raise his own mules and horses, 

 how long would it be Itefore we would hear a wail coming from Kentucky and 

 Missouri? When we teach him to raise his own vegetables and live at home, 

 the thousands of carloads of canned goods that are annually consumed in the 

 South, put up in the eastern and northern States, nmst find another market or 



