The Oklahoma Farmer and Laborer (Sapulpa, Okla.), Vol. 3, No. 19, Ed. 1 Friday, August 18, 1911 Page: 3 of 8
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FOUND AT LAWTON
Experimental Farmer Dis-
covers I usee
•t That Fights
Lawton, Okla. —A "black-armored
cruiser," as he terms it, an inveterate
enemy of the boll weevil, which, if loos-
ed in the fields with that pest of south-
ern crops, will mean extermination of
the weevil and the revolutionizing of
methods of fighting the destroyer of
crops, as he believes, has been discover-
ed by C. W. McDonald of this city, at
one time a member of the Kansas state
legislature, lawyer, capitalist and pract
ical and experimental farmer.
The discovery was made on Mr. Mc-
Donald's farm, neal Waurika in Jeffer
son county, and, after making thorough
investigation on his own account, he
has submitted samples of the pest des-
troyer to the state board of agriculture
and to the national bureau as well, in
the hope that a more effective means
of fighting boll weevil may be worked
out through the propagation and distri-
bution of the new worm.
Early this month Mr. McDonald was
called to his farm by an urgent message
from his tenant, declaring that some-
thing must be done to save the alfalfa
crop from the boll weevil. "1 found
that the pest had made quick work of
my alfalfa field," he said, "having eat-
en the leaves off until only the stalk
and skeleton leaves were left. The
whole field, in fact, was turning white.
"We commenced cutting and raking
at once to save the hay and destroy the
worms, and I began a critical examina-
tion of the pest with a magnifying glass.
"1 found the young worms, one-half
inch long, eating the tender, yellow pis-
tils of the cotton blossems. Then, go-
ing deeper, I found that they had bored
into and killed the young bolls. Later,
as the worm grew to be one and one-
half inches long, they bored into the
larger bolls, sometimes as many as six
holes, which admitted the rain, and the
bolls were rotting. They also ate the
leaves full of holes, taking everything
gr jen, even boring into the burrs of the
bull nettle.
"Wbile watching them eating and
crawling along on the ground, 1 discov-
ered a black worm which attacked the
boll worms, grabbing them by the
throat and shaking them until the yel-
lowish-green juice was sucked from
their body and they were dead. A fight
of less than a minute was required to
leave the weevil with red head and
snakeskin skeleton only remaining.
"Then 1 wondered if I had not dis-
covered a boll worm destroyer. So I
called my men as witnesses and we put
several of the worms close to the black
destrover and watched a dozen or more
fights. The black worm, always victor,
would suck his fill of the weevil's life
blood and then lay quiet, like a fat hog,
to rest, but seemingly only in wait for
another prey for, on the appearance of
another worm, would make a new at
tack.
"1 found the black destroyer, or arm-
ed cruiser, in all stages of development
from one-half to one and one-half inches
in length, hiding under the wind rows or
in the dust along the mower wheel
tracks. He has a black, or canvass
back, scaley and articulated, with s«;x
long logs under the front end of the
b^dy, with a small head. Fleet as a
cricket, he is a wolfish, fierce fighter
and does his work with the relish of a
hyena."
Reports from Stephens and Jefferson
counties say that boll weevil are mak-
ing serious inroads upon the cotton crop
there. No damage whatever has yet
been reported by farmers of Comanche
cjunty. The present dry, heated per-
iod is expected to check whatever start
has been made,
[
Resolved—That the Guthrie and Logan County Co-Oper-
ative Union does hereby endorse The Oklahoma
Farmf.u and Lahouek us its official organ, and
recommends to all affiliated organizations that they
o-ive consideration to advertisers that use the columns
&
of said Labor Paper.
Cotton Crop Estimated
It is estimated that the cotton crop
of the United States this year will be
14,000,000 bales. Figuring the pri<:e
the same as last year this will amount
to over one billion dollars. Of tiiis yield
Oklahoma will furnish one million and
a quarter bales at last year's price will
bring the cotton growers of Oklahoma
$90,000,000, an average of $1,200,000 to
each county in the state, but as some
of the counties do not raise cotton, the
average for the counties that do will be
even higher.
HARPER BROS.,
l or Your
GROCERIES
Phone 231. East Lee Ave.
LABEL>
<UNION
l.PH.O
Tjhe 9/eiv 2/or/c
hardware Store
Wholesale and Retail Dealers in
JCardware, Stove a, TJtnware,
Cutlery, Pumps, Suns, Ctc.
Gas Fitting-! inwork a Specialty
We handle the Famous Garland Gas Ranges and
Heaters'.
Phone 22. Sut/irie, Ok/a/ioma. 2/S Oklahoma five.
1. D. BURKE,
THE ONLY CASH GHOCED
No Phone.
SAVE 20 PER CENT BY TRADING WITH US.
GUTHRIE, OKLA. Opposite Post Office.
SAPULPA, OKLAHOMA.
Truthful James
I
" If this here dry weather continues,''
said Truthful, with a troubled look, "1
am afraid that it will be mighty hard on
fish till they git used to goin' without
water regular.
"In the year '60 1 hed a farm where
there wuz a fine pond and stream. We
had a heap uv fish and always had
plenty for home use and fish to sell.
Well, sir, the water kept gittin' lower
and lower till finally the big fish hed to ,
lay on their sides so as to get enough •
water to cover ,em.
"The big cat fish got their backs sun-
burned pretty bad and they used to i
come up to the bank and wait for me to
smear them with sweet oil to heal the
sunburns.
"Finally the stream dried up alto-
gether but the fish had been gradually
gittin' to going without water to swim
in. All they really needed wuz some
water to drink. 1 made a trough and
hauled water two miles forf hree months
to water them fish. They would git out
and lie under the shade uv of the trees
and catch bugs and grasshoppers and
such fur'feed and th«n when 1 would
come with the water they would come
up to the trough and drink like so many
cows.
"They got to know my voice and
would come at my call. Many uv them
would follow me round over the place
like so many dogs and come up to the
house and play with the children. I
really got very fond uv them fish and
sort uv felt lonesome when the rains
come again and the streams and ponds
filled ud so that they could go back.
"Durin' the hot dry summer after the
ponds and creeks dried up I used to cal I
them fish up and in addition to lettin'
'em drink out uv the trough as I hev
i mentioned, 1 also gave each uv them a
I spounge bath every day fur which they
J were very grateful; which is more than
I can be said fur many humans when you
I do them a favor." —Mail & Breeze.
The Farmer and Laborar $1 per year.
Plasterers of Richmond. Va., secuied
eight-hour day without strike.
Other things being equal the easy
m'lking cow should be worth 2f> per cent
more than the eard milker.
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Johannes, Fred C. The Oklahoma Farmer and Laborer (Sapulpa, Okla.), Vol. 3, No. 19, Ed. 1 Friday, August 18, 1911, newspaper, August 18, 1911; (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc101834/m1/3/: accessed April 25, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.