The Grapevine Sun. (Grapevine, Tex.), Vol. 8, No. 46, Ed. 1 Saturday, November 14, 1903 Page: 3 of 8
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: The Grapevine Sun and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the Tarrant County Archives.
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The Boll Weevil Convention
With $75,000,000 at Stake, the Cotton Raisers of
Texas Hold Council.
Dallas, Nov. 9.—In a sense the boll
weevil convention has come and gone.
In the sense that there has been a
meeting and that a plan of campaign
has been set on foot the meeting has
gone, but with $75,000,000 at stake in
Texas alone, the leaven set to work in
Dallas during the two days’ conference
of the leading cotton raisers of Tex-
as will go on and on, permeating every
nook and corner of the cotton-raising
sections of this country. Not only
this, the good common sense doctrine
of careful cultural methods, not hither-
to so essential with the cheap lands of
of erstwhile Texas will be applied to
the raising of the whole farm crop.
There will be less carrying of “all the
eggs in one basket.” Hitherto cotton
could, in some sort of a manner, fur-
nish an existence to its raiser to the
exclusion of other crops, but that day
is done. Rents cost something now-
a-days; seed have grown valuable, and
the price of help is an important mat-
ter. This meeting, had there been no
weevil scourge on the country, ought
to have been held.
Boiled down, the recommendations
are that the farmers adopt the approv-
ed cultural methods, get the seed of
early maturing varieties of cotton
from non-infested districts, organize
for uniformity of action, and, as Judge
Aldredge expresses it, run a race with
the weevil and beat him to the half-
mile board.
The speakers, without exception, de-
clared that the farmers of Texas are
up against a hard proposition, but also
without exception they expressed hope,
even confidence, that the difficulty
would be overcome.
At the convention held in this city
two years ago, a great deal was said
about boll weevil poisons and other
plans designed to exterminate the pest.
At that convention attention was riv-
eted on cultural methods, and the in-
terest in alleged exterminators some-
what lessened..— • — -—=
At this convention impatience to lis-
ten to men who have exterminator
propositions was manifested. It was
plainly indicated on more than one oc-
casion, that the farmers did not care
to hear about unproven exterminators.
It was known that some farmers,
and the government’s scientists, had
grown cotton successfully in the pres-
ence of the boll weevil. The farmers
Wanted to know how it was done;
they were after the plans and specifi-
cations. If a speaker wandered from
the subject they called him back to it.
If he had information of that kind and
stopped short of telling them all he
knew, they encored him.
This sort of advice appealed to them.
Medicine at so much per gallon they
would not entertain. They seemed to
want some accompanying testimonials
before stopping to consider such. At
present they are “throwing physic to
the dogs,” having thrown much of it
at the insects.
State Senator John G. Willacy was
one of the speakers who was encored.
He told the farmers he brought them a
ray of light. He told them that in
San Patricio, Nueces and Duval coun-
ties, the section of the state where the
boll weevil first appeared, and where
it wrought so much havoc as to sug-
gest the abandonment of the crop, they
had this year produced more than a
pale to the acre.
Mr. Willacy closed his address with
this statement, but afterward he was
recalled to say how the farmers in
I hat section had caught up with the
ray of light. In response to this re-
luest, Mr. Willacy informed the con-
jenttion of the cultural, methods em-
■oyed in attaining the happy result,
sying stress upon the importance of
■1 plowing, stirring of the ground
■ring the winter, early planting and
intense cultivation.
W. D. Hunter, entomologist of the
nited States department of agricul-
re, in charge of boll weevil experi-
gents in Texas, had similar hopeful
Bidence to relate, principally relat-
■g to the results of cultural methods
■ Victoria county.
■ Prof. H. P. Attwater of Hous-
delivered an address relat-
to the importance of birds as crop
tec tors, which was listened to with
Bidence of interest. In praising the
bird law of Texas he quoted from
Better written by Mr. Dutcher, chair-
Bin of the Audubon Society, in which
she Texas statute is declared to be the
best bird law passed by any of the
states.
The following report of the commit-
tee on organization was made and
adopted by the convention:
“Whereas, Texas produces one-third
of the cotton grown in the United
States and one-fourth of the total crop
of the world; and
“Whereas, this paramount agricultu-
ral interest of the state needs the help
of co-operation of growers and the
business interests concerned with cot-
ton, we reccomend that the delegates
here in convention assembled organize
and establish the Texas cottton con-
vention to work persistently for the
protection and promotion of our state’s
cotton interest.
“Resolved, second, that this conven-
tion shall meet annually at a time and
place to be designated by the execu-
tive committee; and
“The delegates to this convention
place to be designated by the execu-
tive committee; and
“The delegates to this convention
shall be appointed by the voice of the
shall be appointed by the vice presi-
dents of the convention representing
the several congressional disttricts of
Texas; the vice presidents to secure
nominations of at least twenty dele-
gates from each county through the
county judge of each county, from
which the vice president shall elect at
least ten delegates to the convention,
provided that one-half of the delegates
chosen shall be cotton growers.
“Resolved, third, that the officers of
the convention shall consist of a presi-
dent, a secretary and one vice presi-
to be elected by the convention, and
an executive committee consisting of
eleven members, such executive com-
mittee to elect its own officers.
“Resolved, fourth, the executive
mittee shall constitute a committee of
legislation.
“Resolved, fifth, the executive com-
mittee is empowered to appoint dele-
gates from outside of the state, such
as be deemed advisable.
“Resolved, sixth, your committee
places in nomination the following for
officers during the ensuing year: Geo.
N. Aldredge, Dallas, secretary.
“Executive committee: George N.
Aldredge, Dallas; J. H. Connell, Dal-
las; Geo. T. Jester, Corsicana; E. S.
Peters, Calvert; W. D. Hunter, Vic-
toria; A. H. O’Neill, Paris; W. H.
Rivers, Elgin; John Schumacher, La
Grange; W. E. Kirkpatrick, McKin-
ney; Fifth, James S. Davis, Waxaha-
chie; sixth, Richard Frazier, Hills-
boro; seventh, (to be selected); eighth
T. W. House, Houston; ninth, J. F.
Teel of Franklin or A. M. Milligan of
Navarro county, to be determined
later; tenth, Jefferson Johnson, Aus-
tin; eleventh, D. C. McLean, Salado;
2
THE BOILWEEVIL
s A COTTON BOLLRUINED
‘ BY THE BOLL WEEVIL
THE BOLL WEEVIL.
The boll weevil greatly magnified,
twelfth, C. B. Bowen, Weatherford;
thirteenth, W. A. Ponder, Denton. (No
appointments for fourtenth, fifteenth
and sixteenth districts.) -
“Resolved, seventh, that in case any
vice president selected, can not serve,
or is inactive, the executive commit-
tee shall fill the vacancy.
“Resolved, eighth, that the execu-
tive committee be instructed to pro-
vide a complete constitution and by-
laws in harmony with the objects and
purposes herein stated and to publish
same for the government and control
of the convention in all essential de-
tails. Rospeetfully submittted.
Any reasonable space precludes a
great number of addresses. It was a
regular experience meeting crowded
with stories of loss and gain, of fear
and hope, of failure and success, of
disaster and success. Through all of
it could be seen the wisdom of ages
shining clearly:
“Seest thou a man diligent in his
business, he shall stand before kings
he shall not stand before mean men.’
Speaking of seed, has it ever occur-
red to you that a large share of your
present troubles is due to the fact that
The address of Fred B. Jones prob- since you have been selling seed to oil
ably more nearly covered the whole
ground that any other made during
the meeting. There were many good
points made in the addresses not touch-
ed upon by Mr. Jones, and much tha! I
Mr. Jones said had been said by others,
but it was pronounced a “live wire”,
talk by all. Mr. Jones said:
In speaking on the subject assigned
to me, viz., “Cultural Methods, and
How Best to Apply Them to All Coun-
ties Afflicted With Boll Weevil,”
wish to say that I shall not tresspas
upon this convention’s time to an.
great extent. There are hundreds o
others who have ideas that should be
listened to so that the convention may
be able to extract the very essence, si
to speak, of all good suggestions, ar
ranged into a practical form that al
may adopt and carry out all over the
the infected district this coming year -
What I shall say will be along the
lines of what seems to me absolute!
necesssary to be done first and don,
right now, i. e., cut and windrow you
cotton stalks while they are yet gree
and the weevil in them. In a few day
the weevil will all gather under thes
windrows of stalks and, will stay there
as long as there is anything for them
to eat; and while they are there thes
stalks should be burned and the row
made inflammable as possible by add
ing straw, dead grass, and even a littl
coal oil sprinkled on them to hel
make a quick flash, and burn with th
wind. This would annihilate, almos
to a bug, the army that destroyed you
crop.
Now stop and think for a momen
what this first step means. If ever
farmer in the infected district were t
do this, in the next ten days I believ
75 per cent of the present army a
weevil that have destroyed the cottor
this season would be exterminated in
stead of hibernating wheredhienioni)
be safe to come back next spring again
Second, I would-suggest the actua
cleaning and burning of all weeds
dead grass, everywhere on the farm
and in ravines, and thus destroy manj
more, so that only a small per cent
will get off to hibernate. Having done
this much, I would recommend fal
plowing, and that all lands you expect
to cultivate next spring be plowed deep
this fall. Until you have tried this
method, you will never appreciate how
much good it does to your land to fall
plow; and if you don't do it the land
lies there exhausted and dead from its
season’s labor of producing a crop.
Plowing in the spring and planting at
the same time, expecting the soil to
do its duty is much like expecting your,
mules that have done a hard day’s
work to do the same the next day with-
out having anything to eat during the
night. By plowing in the fall your
land becomes loosened up, aerated and
takes on the elements again for pro-
ducing another crop that were ex-
hausted in producing the last one. It
gets quick action of the seed planted
in the spring; it has the elements of
strength and food to make the plants
grow quickly and vigorously and come
to maturity with much more fruit and
much earlier, and that is another point
in its favor. If you have gained two
weeks’ time this way you may save
your crop.
I firmly believe this method of deep
fall plowing should be advocated by
this convention as much as I believe
the cutting and burning of sticks to
destroy weevil right now should be.
The next step I would advocate
would be planting rows not less than
five feet apart, and in the drill not less
than three feet apart; and after the
crop is planted take from a hot-bed
cotton planted in heavy paper fun-
nels, not less than a foot long, and
transplant them in the cotton field, say
every ffty feet apart, in every tenth
row, putting manure in the hills first,
so as to force these transplanted hills
of cotton along fast. In order that you
on them, pick up and burn the fallen
squares every day or two. By doing
this you will thus destroy many weevil
and hold them down so the main field
of cotton can’t be much affected before
you have at least half a crop made
ahead of any of the weevil. I would
also advocate constant cultivation un-
til cotton opens, using every meth-
od possible to hinder the hatching of
eggs, such as tying trash on the single-
tree, to agitate the cotton, etc
Of course, it is understood that noth-
ing but early varieties of seed should
be planted. This is already an ac-
knawledged fact. This, together with
what I have stated, will, I am sure,
enable every farmer to glow cotton
successfully in the boll weevil dis-
tricts.
mills you have been planting your
poorest and latest seed all the time?
It’s a fact, and if you stop to think
about it, is it any wonder that your
crop has been getting later and later
.each year? The time has come when
you must change your methods. You
are up to it now, and it has become a
question of dollars and cents with the
farmer, merchant, banker and manu-
facturer, and it can’t be evaded any
longer in some sections of this state.
But I am firmly convinced that it is
just as easy to raise cotton, in spite
of the weevil, as I know it would have
been to have raised a crop of corn in
Texas in 1902 as it was to have lost it.
I trust that in its deliberations this
convention will find a simple, practical
methods the farmer can adopt and
will carry out to the letter in every
county infected with the boll weevil,
and that the merchants, bankers and
everybody else will not only approve
of, but help along, by holding county
mass meetings as well as school dis-
trict meetings to bring it quickly and
effectually before every farmer, and
distribute printed matter setting forth
the plant adopted by this convention in
a simple manner, easy to understand.
I thank you for the time.
The report of the committee on res-
olutions follows:
Dallas, Tex., Nov. 6, 1903.—To the
Chairman: We, your committee on
resolutions, beg leave to submit the
following recommendations, and ask
their adoption by the convention:
Resolved, First. That this conven-
tion earnestly invite the organization
of farmers’ associations in each coun-
ty and precinct of the state, to the end
that they may co-operate with the
state executive commitee, receiving
and extending such advice as may be
We recommend the late cultivation
Holare cotton plant, the plowing of the
■ land in the late fall and winter for the
new crop; the frequent cultivation of
: the crop; destroying all trash and veg-
etation, and the employment of all
other improved cultural methods so
that crops may be made to mature
before the boll weevil becomes de-
structive.
Third. Believing that small areas in-
tensively cultivated are more profit-
able than large areas loosely cultivat-
ed, we recommend that only so much
land be planted in cotton as can be
cultivated according to the most ap-
proved methods, and we strongly urge
our farmers to diversify their crops.
We recommend to them especially the
planting of grain and forage crops; the
raising of live stock, the establish-
ment of dairies and truck and fruit-
growing where conditions are favor-
able.
Fourth. Whereas, the cotton grow-
ing industry of Texas is seriously
threatened by the ravages of the boll
weevil; and
Whereas, the prosperity of the state
is largely dependent upon the success
of the cotton growers; and
Whereas, all lines of business or pro-
fessions are dependent upon the pros-
perity of the farmers; and
Whereas, the Texas Cotton Growers’
Convention of Texas has perfected a
permanent organization whose duty it
shall be to use every effort toward
checking the advance of and toward
the destroying of said weevil (or oth-
er dangers) threatening our cotton;
a nd
Whereas, in order to accomplish the
greatest good in the shortest time, it
its necessary that the executive com-
nhittee have financial assistance.
Resolved, that we request the boards
of trade, commercial clubs or other or-
ganizations of similar nature through-
♦
01
01
a<
g:
of
pa
th
it the state, interested in advancing
and protecting our prosperity, locally
th
Iza
of
of
ou
lat
div
’ as a state, to solicit and subscribe
ich financial assistance as geeded to
complish the purpose of this or-
inization.
And we especially recommend that
e commercial clubs and other organ-
tions offer assistance to the farmers
their communities in securing seed
early maturing' cotton and vigor-
sly encourage the employment of
est improved cultural methods and
ersification.
fifth. We heartily approve the work
the executive committee during the
■t year, and extend our thanks to
w for their services, involving sac-
rifices of time and labor.
We desire to express our appreciation
of the contributions received from the
raiload companies and State Bankes’
assciation, and for the reduced rates
on cotton seed granted by the railroads
upon application of the committee.
We extend our thanks to the Farm
and Ranch for the services of a secre-
tary placed at the disposal of the ex-
ecutive committee, free of cost.
We approve of the action of the
Twenty-eighth legislature in passing a
law for the protection of birds and the
law offering a reward of fifty thousand
dollars for an effective remedy for the
boll weevil pest, and extend our thanks
to the newspapers of the state for
their active co-operation in the work
of crop protection and diversification.
Sixth. We heartily appreciate the
earnest efforts and interest of the sec-
retary of agriculture, looking to the
destruction of insect pests and the en-
couragement of our agriculture. And
recognize the grave danger confront-
ing the cotton industry of Texas and
other cotton-growing states, we earn-
estly appeal to the federal govern-
ment, through its department of agri-
culture, to continue its liberal appro-
priations and to vigorously continue
its efforts for the suppression and ex-
termination of the boll weevil, boll
worm and other insect pests.
to the best interests of our agriculture
Second. That this convention recom-
mend that cotton seed for planting be
purchased from the cotton growing
area not affected by the boll weevil.
We do not recommend the purchase of
any special variety other than improv-
ed, early maturing varieties, and we
further strongly urge that purchasers
of seed exercise great caution in se-
curing sound and carefully selected
seed.
Forcing Plants to Bloom.
Flowering plants are now forced
into early bloom by a bath of ether
vapor. The plant is placed for forty-
eight hours in a sealed tank contain-
ing ether. It is afterward removed
to an ordinary hothouse and comes
into full bloom in about two or three
weeks. Lilacs, azaleas and deutziaf
respond readily to the treatment
which is now extensively used in Gen
many.
He’d Invented a Cattle Corset.
“My confinement in this institution
is an outrage,” explained the harm-
less inmate to the asylum visitor.
“Jealous dairy companies have had
me railroaded here. They feared that
my new cattle corset would drive
them out of business. What? Oh,
nothing much. Just a little idea I had
for lacing cows tight enough to make
them give condensed milk.”
A Good Lung Exercise.
Hold the head up, the shoulders
back and chest out; inflate the lungs
slowly through the nose until they are
quite full; hold until you have counted
ten without opening the lips, then ex-
hale quickly till the lungs are as
empty of the bad air as it is possible to
get them. Repeat this exercise until
you can county twenty, when the lungs
are full. 1
Wanted Exact Information.
Wife (3 a. m.)—“John Henry, you’re
drunk.” John Henry—"No, no (hic),
my dear; I’m only ti(hic)red. Wez my
slippers?” Wife (in disgust)—“Over
there beside the fireplace, where they
have been since six o’clock last even-
ing.” John Henry (after wandering
around for half an hour)—“’Scuse me
(hic), my dear. Wez the fireplace?”
The Reading Nations.
Germany heads the list as a reading
nation, and Russia is falling to zero.
In 1893, 23,607 books were published
in Germany, as compared with 8,082 in
Russia. In regard to newspapers, the
inhabitants of the United States are
catered to by 22,000 journals, while
Russia with a population of 130,000,000
has only 800.
Artificial Teeth for Soldiers.
Soldiers of the British army, not
below the rank of sergeant, who incur
such loss of teeth as would otherwise
cause their discharge as invalids, are
to be provided with artificial teeth at
the public expense, if, in the opinion
of the medical officer, they will there-
by be rendered efficient.
Similarity in Great Works.
Plymouth (Eng.) breakwater con-
tains the same quantity of stone—3,-
800,000 tons—as the great pyramid of
Cheops.
Spanish Farm Hands.
In Spain the daily wage of a field
laborer ranges from 20 to 28 cents
without board.
Race Track Bets.
During the racing season more than
$1,000,000 a day is wagered on horses.
A woman may admit that her hus
band gets tight but never that her
shoes are : ,
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Keeling, J. E. The Grapevine Sun. (Grapevine, Tex.), Vol. 8, No. 46, Ed. 1 Saturday, November 14, 1903, newspaper, November 14, 1903; Grapevine, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1660359/m1/3/?q=Birth+of+a+Nation: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Tarrant County Archives.