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SOMMiGSIQNEB’S TALK
Intoreating Letter Trom Hon.
0. B. Stevens.
AS TO CR0P8 OF GEORGIA
Marked Improvement In Both Cotton
and Corn—.Peach Crop Will Bring
$6,000,000 Into the State of Georgia,
Each crop year has Its own peculiar
ities, and this Is no exception. Last
year corn and cotton were retarded
.by cool weather, rains and cool nights,
while this yeaT they wore retarded
•over large areas by long-continued
-drouth. Yet the farmers of Georgia
raised paying crops last year, and we
trust that by the blessing of God they
will do the same this year.
At the time that we sent out letters
for information concerning the crop
conditions for our May-June report,
things did not look very promising, ex
cept for fruit. Since then there has
'been marked improvement in both
•cotton and corn, and the promise of
the best peach year ever known in
'Geiiigia has been fulfilled. 'With
about ?G,o0o,OOO coming into our State
from the peach orchards and the hope
of remunerative crops of corn and
cotton, even If they should happen to
fall below normal In production, our
farmers should take courage and labor
with renewed energy. The ravages
of fhawcotton boll weevil in certain
sections of Texas have awakened con
siderable apprehension among the
farmrs of the South. This pest has
not yet crossed the Mississippi, and it
Is to be hoped that the measures for
preventing Its spread may prove suc
cessful.
The Georgia Department of Agricul
ture, the State Entomological Depart
ment, the Horticultural and Agricul
tural Societies held consultations and
th ooutcome of these deliberations is
the legislation providing quarantine
regulation against the weevil. While
It behooves us to take every precau
tion against its Introduction into our
fields, we feel assured that a remedy
• against this Insect will be discovered,
.as has ben done In the case of all pre
vious enemies of our crops.
Professor 0. F. Cook, of the United
States Entomological Bureau, has
’been experimenting with the Guate
malan ant, which, he says, Is the great
•destroyer of the weevil and other ene
mies of cotton and itself In no way
[harmful to crops. Of oourso, we are
’Inclined to look with suspicion upon
’nil such defenders, lest they prove as
.great a pest as the English Sparrow.
iBut, If the Guatemalan ant is what
.Professor ■ Cook claims for it, then we
can congratulate ourselves that the
rejnedy has ben discovered.
| There are some who claim that the
South can, by a more scientific sys-
item of cultivation, raise 15,000,000
hales of cotton each yeaT, and still
Others say that within the present lim
its the South will some day raise 80,
000,000 bales. Whether these extrav
agant flugros shall ever be reached is
of little practical advantage Lo us just
Uow.
We think we can congratulate our
selves that for several years at least
the supply will fall enough short of
the demand for oijf great Etapie, to in
sure us remunerative prices and to
put the prosperity of Southern farm
ers on a permanent baslB.
I It is difficult under present labor
conditions to see how our farmers are
to Increase the production of ftotton.
Perhaps It may be done, if they can
draw away laborers, that have flo'dked
to the cities and towns. If they can
do this. It may be to the detriment of
manufacturing Interests. Will not in-
dbnslve farming go far towards the so-
Fntlfin Of this problem?
Gome contend that In immigration
'H found our best solution. The De
partment of Agriculture is In favor of
■progress and considers the bringing
into Georgia of a desirable class of
Immigrants a step in the right direc
tlon.
ling staples of Georgia. We desire
to see our State hold even a higher
rank than now as a corn and cotton
growing country, but we will also glad,
ly hall the day, when Georgia brings
her Sugar Cane Crop to a .valuation'
that shall place It on a par with what
are now our principal wealth produces
In the field of agriculture.
During the decade ending with 1900
South Georgia outstripped the other
sections of the State In the Increase
of population. 1 This ought to mean
much for the growth.of the sugar cane
crop, the larger part of which 1b raised
in South Georgia. •
OUR EXPERIMENT STATION.
The Experiment Station at Griffin
under the conduct of Hon. R. •). Red
ding and his energetic assistants, Is
doing a good work for Georgia In
sending out valuable literature tin .nigh
our daily papers, as .well as in the
great object lesson presented by the"
well managed farm.
To the influences of the Experiment
Station near Waycross under the man
agement of Professor A Unir Given,
of the United States Experiment Sta
tion Department, is due in a very
large measure the increased interest
In the cultivation of sugar cano all
over Southern Georgia.
RAISE YOUR OWN SUPPLIES.
We have so repeatedly given advice
about the best methods of preparing
the soil and cultivating various crops,
that we will not repeat them at this
time. But we repeat again the ad
vice that we have given over and over
and that we expect to continually of
fer. It is this: Let all our farmers
raise their own supplies. No matter
how low the price of anything thi
you purchase, It Is not cheap, If you
can grow it yourself. Raise your
own corn, wheat, oats and hay, and
make on the farm food supplies for
man and beast. Have poultry, hogs,
mutton and beef raised at home, and
have milch cows enough to supply
your table with milk and butter. Then
you will reduce to the .minimum the
articles that you will be compelled to
purchase for table use. Your cotton
or sugar cane will then be money
crops, giving you the ability to dress
well, Improve your dwellings, pur
chase the best farm Implements' and
keep the best of stock, besides laying
up for a rainy day.
OUTLOOK 18 ENCOURAGING.
In view of progress already made
we feel that we can congratulate the
farmers of Georgia as well as our
merchants and manufacturers, whose
success Is largely based on that of
. our agricultural classes, on the Im
proved conditions all over our 'State,
and the bright prospect of Increased
advancement by Georgia In population,
wealth and all that goes to make a
people great and good.
6. B. STEVENS,
« . Commissioner of Agriculture.
thradnose, formed upon the blackened
areas of the diseased bolls, lare color
less, but . they become so abundant
upon these diseased areas that they
give the latter a grayish appearance,
ft is by means of these spores that
the disease is spread from boll to boll
and from plant to plant in the cotton
fields.
The attack of the anthracnose fun
gus oftentimes results In the boll’s re
maining closed, and the lint within
falls to mature. At other times the
Up of the diseased boll will open up
slightly; but In this case also the lint
falls to mature and the boll eventual
ly dries up, asumlng a dark brown
color.
Strnngely.enough, the attacks of this
disease are often attributed to insects,
th ecotton planter believing that the
bolls have been “Btung" by some very
small and elusive Insect and that h
sees only the effect of their “poison-
lng.” Ag a matter of fact. Insects
are In no way responsible for this
trouble, and have no connection with
It whatever aside from the possibility
that certain Insects may carry tho
spores of the disease upon their feet
or beaks as they travel from one plant
to another.
This Is a case in which the remedy
is hard to apply, partly because of the
nature of the disease and also because
the morphology and life-history of the
fungus causing the disease have not
been thoroughly worlJId out by scien
tists. An intimate knowledge of all
stages of a disease or of,the develop
ment of an Insect In most cases gives
a clew to how the disease or insect
may be successfully dealt with. This
very necessary Intimate knowledge of
Insects and diseases can only be ob
tained by careful and thorough scien
tific study, by using the highest power
microscopes and by observing tho in
sect or disease In all stages of Its de
velopment and existence, and noting
its behavior upon different plants and
under differing climatic or weather
conditions. Hence It Is that the sci
entific work proper along these lines
la Indirectly of the greatest Impor
tance to the farmer.
At this season of the year (July, Au
gust and September) we know of
nothing the farmer can do to check
the cotton anthracnose, except that
possibly where the disease has not ob
tained much of a start, the diseased
bolls could be carefully picked off
and burned up, thereby reducing the
crop of spores that will later spread
the destructive disease throughout,
the entire field or plantation. Even
If this is practiced, however, the an-
tbracnose fungus Is likely to have ob
tained a start upon the leaf-scars and
injured parts of the steins and It prob
ably could not be entirely eradicate
hero and there which shows no Indica
tion of having been attacked by the
anthracnose. This plainly indicates
that there Is something about that ir.
dividual plant, that enables It to resist
the disease successfully. if seed b»
selected from this resistant plant, tli
plants grown from this seed will, to a
contdorablo extent, show the same re
sistance. Selection of seed can be
made from the most resistant of these
plants the second season, and It this
systematic seed selection Is carried on
successfully for a few years, the plant
er will have developed a strain ol
cotton resistant to anthracnose and
will have solved the problem at very
small expense.
In cose the planter for any reason
does not carry out this plan of seed
selection he had becst he sure to ob-
tal n-hts cotton seed from some locali
ty where, the anthracnose does not ox-
1st. Such a locality may exist only
a few miles away and during tho sum
mer and early autumn rs tho time thi-
planter should bo looking about for
the source of his next year’s supply
of seed, and he should now assure
himself by a personal examination
that the fields from which his seed la
to como are free from this disease.
#iLMON NEWELL,
State Entomologist
Atlanta, Ga., Aug. 8, 1904.
Wanted It Cincheo.
“Tessle, I love you!”
A wm-m check nestled down on- the
bosom of n new thirty-eight dollar suit
of clothes, and soft eyes looked love t6‘
eyfes that spake again.
The reader who has delved deeply
into the pages of literature will see at
a glance that this might have Uappen>-
cd in n novel. It really happened in-
St. Joe.
Being n considerate young man, he
did not want to hold her In suspense
and In his arms nt the same time, so
he snld It again;
"Tessle, I love you! Will you be my
wife?"
For a moment, the trembling girl
could not speak, but after looking for
her voice In nil of her pockets and her
reticule she found it where she should
hnve looked for It In the first place bad
she not been so confused, clear down
In her throat.
"I will, Charley, on one condition,"
she murmured.
“And the condition?" he said "hotly.
"Name It. ■ Though It bo to wade
through fire and blood I shall esteem
it ns play to comply. Wlint is It?"
‘That you marry ine," she replied
firmly, for she bad not been without
experience.
PERT PARAGRAPHS.
Perhaps tho letter that never came
was held up by a jealous stenographer.
If you want to find out nil about
farming, ask the mnn who has never
farmed.
It brenks the heart of the mother of
a spoiled son to see how his wife can
make him step around.
Don’t judge a man by his salary. He
may have a rich uncle.
A man always wants to be a boy
again minus the sore toes.
Perhaps we say time is money be
cause both fly.
A faint heart often wins a fair lady
after she is thirty.
PH Misery loves company, but not bad
by this hand-plching method. In fact, j enough to. look for it in the poor-
the practicability of this plan Is ques-! house,
tionable, but It Is the only plan that 1
can be applied at this season ol the 1
COTTON ANTHRACNOSE.
Recently the cotton planters in some
parts of Laurens and Dodge counties,
Georgia, have been considerably
alaTmed by the appearance of a rath
er serious trouble In their cotton fields.
Specimens of the injured plants and
bolls which have been sent to the
Georgia Department of Agriculture and
and to the State Entomologist, show
that the loss is being caused by the
disease of cotton known as '’anthrac
nose.”
The appearance of fhls disease. Is
most characteristic and is most com
monly noticed as It affects the bolls,
although it does occur to some ex
tent upon both the leaves and stems
of the cotton plant.
The first sympton of the disease up
on the bolls Is the appearance of small
red specks or dots. These rapidly
enlarge in Ize with the result that the
part of the surface affected becomes
sunken and soon attains a blackened
color. These diseased areas are
usually circular or oval In form, but
as several spots frequently occur upon
a single boll, these areas, sooner or
later, unite so tha thalf, or even more.
of the boll is affected. “Spores” aro
But what we want Is immlgra-1 soon developed upon the blackened
tlou of Americans from other States: area. It may be well to explain here
•of tbe Union,, people who are Imbued
with American Ideas ahd a clear un
derstanding of them, so that the South
may continue to be, as In the past,
the best example of true Americanism
In race and In principles.
' SUGAR CANE.
Encouraging reports come to us
fch-.-ut sugar care. We have Informa
tion that leads us to believe that this
industry is taking on new life In Geor-
\gla and encourages our • hope that at
so distant day the Empire State of the
fiouth will take the rank that she is
capable of holding as a sirup and su
gar producing State.
In order to bring this,to-, pass it Is
not necessary, to dVeote a single acre
less to com and cotton,: the twB fead ;
that these “fungus" diseases as they
are termed, are caused by very low
forms of plant life—in reality vege
table organisms of a very simple
form. Like the higher type of flower
ing plants with which we are all fa
miliar, there must be provided some
means by which the> :plant is propa
gated- and spread. Flowering plants
produce seeds, and while it cannot be
truthfully said that the “fungous"
plants produce seeds, yet Chey do
produce spores which correspond In
their function the seeds of the com
mon plants. These spores are dlstrlb-
ted by winds, insects, and in other
year, that offers any promise whatever
of success. Spraying the cotton Heine
with some fungicide like Bordeaux
mixture for example, Is Impracticable,
as the fungus obtains u hold deep In
the tissues of the cotton plant, where
It cannot be reached by an application
of liquid or dust. Poison or all ainin
is ,of course, entirely useless agalns*.
a trouble of this kind.
Do not Judge a man by bla clothes.
They may be.only rented.
In Spite of all this, the planter can
take some very sensible steps towards
reducing the damage from this disease
another season. It seems Highly pro’,
able that the fungus which causes thlB
disease may continue to live In t
soil for some time, and thus re-lnfeot
the following crop of cotton. In lo
calities where thw anthracnose occurs,
therefore, cotton should not be plant
ed next year upon land that has been
In cotton this year. lb other words,
cotton should not be placed upon the
same piece of land two years In sue-
slon. This Is only a part of the doc
trine of "rotation of crops." Were
the farmer to always carry out a sys
tematic rotation of crops, year after
year, in which the same crop never
succeeds Itself upon the same piece
of land, his losse sfrom Insects and
disease would b egreatly reduced with
out any attending cost whatever, and
In addition the fertility of his soli
would bo conserved to much greater
.advantage, thereby reducing his fertil
izer bill.
The selection of the proper cotton
seed for planting In a locality where
You cannot blame the man who
wrote “Bedella." Ho may have need
ed the money.
You may say In general that all men
are liars, but don’t bo specific if your
features aro special pets.
A mad dog nev
er stops to count
100 before biting
some one.
It would not bo
fair to base a
man’s general
r e p u t a tlon for
truth and verac
ity on what he
tells the assessor.
Never look to
see. if a gift mule
needs shoeing.
What Does He Care 1
Can man acquire a million
And do it on the square,
Since such a pile of money
Is much more than his share?
When ho has that much treasure,
Or any like amount
He peedn’t answer questions
Or be called to account
And bo what does It matter
How he ucqulred the spoll7
’Twill buy ob many diamonds
As though It came by tolL
Not His Favorite Disease. \
"The poor tramp’s Inst moments were"
terribly lmblttored."
“Did he hate to die?”
“No, but he objected to the way.
Tho doctor told him he had water on
the brain.”
No Incentive.
“Some of tbe south sea Islanders
wear no clothing at all."
“Then it Is useless to send mission
aries to them, for what Incentive would
the women have to go to church?"
Age Cures Him.
In youth he loves for love alon*
No ether reasons count,
But when he’s, older, wiser grow*
He loves a bank account
Too Herd.
"Professor, can you hypnotize my
wlfo so she will not ask mo for
money?’’
“Don’t ask our great science to do
the impossible.”
Not Looking For Trouble.
"I don’t caro to buy a pig in a poke.”
“I would rather buy one that way
than loose, for then I would be certain
to get hhn heme."
Worth Living For.
We live for thoeo who' love us.
For thoeo who love us muob.
Who don’t croak
Whon we are broke
And have to make a touch.
-An erratic keyhole can cause a sub
stantial citizen great confusion after
the midnight hour.
You might* well guess that it would
be a cold day when a thief would steal
a hot stove.
At a whliit congress there Is no posi
tion of honor for the speaker.
Many great men cannot spell, but It
does not follow that all who cannot
■pell are great.
In a restaurant where the service is
anthracnose occurs, is of the greatest alow the patron often thinks that if
importance. Two courses are open things were called by their right names
in the selection of Bead. One is for he would be termed the waiter.
the planter to secure, for next year’s
planting', cotton seed from a locality
where the anthracnose does not oc
cur, as It has been clearly shown that
the spores of this disease aro often
times retained in tbe lint upon the
seed, and are hence ready to infect
the young plant as soon as it breaks
In sending literature to-a condemned
murderer do not bother about Including
• treatise on how to live 100 years.
It is no time to ask a man for a favor
When be Is breaking in a new pair of
■hoes.
Weather that kills the winter wheat
open the seed-coat
The other course would be tpr ths baa no effect on the ragweed,
ways and germinate very much as do planter to caTefully select resistant —
seeds of grain or other plants, and j g^eg from the diseased areas upon bin When a man's work compels him to
' again start tho disease In a new ’ own plantation. In almost every bad- get up at 4’o’clock in the morning, he is
locality or upon another plant As ly diseased field a plant will be found In no mood to appreciate the sunrise,
stated above, the spores of the an-
222 South Peoria St.,
Grioaoo, III., Oct. 7,1902.
Eight months ago I was so ill
that I was compelled to lie or sit
down nearly all the time. My
stomaoh was so weak and upset
that I could keep nothing on it
and I vomited frequently. I
could not urinate without great
pain and I coughed so much that
my throat ana lungs were raw
and sore. The doctors pro
nounced it Bright’s disease and
others said it was consumption.
It mattered little to me what
they called it and I had no de
sire to live. A sister visited me
from St. Louis and asked me if
I had ever tried Wine of Cardni.
I told her I had not and the
bought a bottle. I believe that
it saved my life. I believe many
women oould save much suffBe
ing if they but knew of its value.
Don't you want freedom frm
pain? Take Wine of Cardni
and make one supreme effort te
be well. Ton do not need te be
a weak, helpleu sufferer. Te*
dan have a woman’s health tad
do a woman's work in lifo. Why
not secure a bottle of Wine ef
Cardui from your druggist to
day?