The Tupelo Journal

Weevil Not Eradicated.
Washington, Jan. 18.-In a talk with Representative Ransdell today, Bradford Knapp, chief of the farm demonstration division of the Department of Agriculture, sounded a note of warning to the cotton planters not only of Louisiana, but of Mississippi and adjoining areas in Arkansas and Texas. What he desired the planters in Louisiana in particular to remember is that the boll weevil has not been eradicated, even from the sections of the cotton belt where none of the insects was found last season. His injunction to all is to plant on the assumption that the pest will reappear during the coming season because the winter has been mild. In a good many spots in the belt last season, infestation was great enough to make it certain that during the mild winter the pest has multiplied, so that unless the planters take pains with their crops, conditions will be lamentable.
In particular he hopes they will put in at least half their acreage with short staple quick-maturing seed. He has heard that many of the planters are contemplating putting in only long staple, and that does not appeal to him. In that view, Mr. Ransdell agrees with Mr. Knapp. The Senator elect, even before he had the talk, had come to the conclusion that it was the thing to do. Neither Mr. Ransdell nor Mr. Knapp believes it will be wise this year to put all the eggs in one basket.
By taking the precautions suggested, Messrs. Ransdell and Knapp believe the evil the mild winter has done in the way of giving the weevil an extension of tenure will be minimized, if not wholly neutralized.