14 FARM SPIES 



the soil into solution so that the plant can take it ; 

 plants, as you know, cannot take solid foods. This 

 will enable the cotton to bloom, and form bolls 

 before the weevil-army, weakened by winter, can 

 become strong enough to puncture all the squares 

 before they bloom and form bolls." 



When Cotton saw people beginning to practice 

 this and that it helped, he felt more cheerful. He 

 said to Corn: "You know I feel somewhat better. 

 I thought that my end had come, but those quiet 

 entomologists have gained a point in my favor. 

 Those men are here, there, and everywhere, study- 

 ing every movement of the weevils to see if these 

 movements cannot be made into weapons to fight 

 the bandits. I agree with you now that, the ento- 

 mologists are the best friends I have. Who would 

 have thought that they could take winter and line it 

 up as an enemy against the weevils ? Planting early 

 kinds of cotton as early as is safe and forcing them 

 as they told us, surely helps." 



There came upon the scene of action another 

 band of workers whose existence had never been 

 dreamed of. They were led by another great Ameri- 

 can who was an expert in farm-management, and 

 his band of workers were called demonstrators. 

 Every important discovery which the scientists 

 made they not only told Cotton, but they went to 

 the farms and showed the farmers how to use it. 



