BOLL WEEVIL. • 21 



with the coining of cold weather. It is the number of adult weevils 

 alive when the time for hibernation comes that counts. It is, there- 

 fore, best to destroy the green cotton stalks just as soon as the cot- 

 ton IS harvested. This can be accomplished by plowing up the stalks 

 and burning them or by plowing them under. Either of these proc- 

 esses if done in time will destroy a large number of adults and 

 weevils in process of development, and will also, through lack of 

 food, cause many remaining adults to migrate or perish. The effec- 

 tiveness of stalk destruction depends on the length of time before 

 frost that it is accomplished. 



Having followed all of the above directions there will still remain 

 these factors over which the farmer has no control. A rainy June 

 and July may make it impossible for him to do his full part 'and he 

 will have to suffer in consequence. Under boll-weevil conditions cot- 

 ton is no longer the certain crop that it once was, and no farmer 

 is any longer safe in making it his sole reliance. Only by raising his 

 food supplies for man and beast and making other crops for sale can 

 he be secured against disaster. 



Conclusions. 



Having covered as best it could in limited space the general aspect 

 of the boll-weevil question, the commission begs leave to make the 

 following observations, suggestions, and recommendations : 



1. The commission regards as an imperative first condition tliat every farmer, 

 wliether an owner or a tenant, shall at once begin or continne to raise all pos- 

 sible food supplies for the family and feed for all farm animals. This first 

 condition having been fulfilled, in view of the high price of cotton likely to 

 prevail next year as well as this, and the pressing necessity to get free of debt 

 and have some capital with which to purchase live stock, build fence, and other- 

 wise prepare for the coming of the weevil, the commission recommends that 

 the farmers of South Carolina plant all suitable remaining acreage in cotton 

 and that the crop be highly fertilized and intensively cultivated, in order to 

 produce a maximum yield with a maximum profit. 



2. The commission can not too strongly urge upon farmers the need of 

 economy in every line to the end that some capital may be put aside with 

 which to readjust agriculture to meet new conditions. All possible food and 

 feed supplies, including meat, dairy, and poultry products, should be raised on 

 the farm. The surplus in every line should be sold to the best advantage and 

 the money saved. Nothing should be purchased that can await a more conven- 

 ient season. 



3. The commission respectfully submits that the business man and not the 

 farmers must be responsible for the creation of markets for products other 

 than cotton ; and recognizing the intimate relation between uniformity and 

 quality in production and successfuLand profitable marketing, suggests hearty, 

 intelligent, and patriotic cooperation between chambers of commerce and the 

 other business organizations and the farmers of the surrounding territory. All 

 such business relations and resulting enterprises should be planned on conserva- 

 tive lines in order that there may result neither disappointment on the one 

 hand nor failure on the other. 



4. Comparable on" ' with the disaster due to the boll weevil itself would be the 

 withdrawal of credit to the farmers by merchants and bankers. The commission 

 would respectfully recommend that there be such a continuation of credit as 

 sound business considerations will permit, and that live stock and other farm 

 commodities be made the basis of credit as well as cotton. At no time in the 

 history of the State will bankers and merchants (who by virtue of their busi- 

 ness relations are closer to the farmers than any other class of citizens) have 

 so great an opportunity to be of service and the chance to exercise so wise a 

 leadership as in the, coming boll weevil crisis. 



The commission suggests that in the near future the merchants and bankers 

 through their State organizations discuss, determine, and announce the policies 



