The farm is faced by the fact that this is the era of poison, and the sooner every man on the farm realizes this fact and puts it into tis extreme limit of practice, the more profitable farming will be. Scarcely a thing of consequence can be made on the farm now without recourse to poisons of some sort. Cotton for a long time remained immune to grievous pests, but this year the weevil has shown that cotton is one of the most seriously affected.
Grapes have been put out of the running in the sandhills by disease. Peaches are impossible without arsenic. Tobacco is dependent on poisons. Cotton has surrendered to the weevil. Irish potatoes must have poison. Garden stuff is affected. Farming is a continual fight with pests, and arsenic is the chief dependence (?defense) of the farm.
Fortunately, organized efforts to save the farm crops have been made and in the Sandhills country a station has been established to carry on the warfare. This station is at Aberdeen under the care of Dr. Leiby, a skilled warrior in the cause of farm defense, and all through the Sandhill country he is carrying on constant battle against the pests. For several years, he has been at the head of the defensive campaign against peach insects, and since the weevil arrived he has been killing weevils and also studying their habits and life methods that he may be the better fortified to contest them. He is here under the direction of the state and national governments, and his one purpose is to lessen the damage done to crops by insect and bacterial life.
It looks as if we are to fight for the farm crops during the years that are ahead of us. The warfare on birds, the natural enemies of insects, has been so complete that we have killed the birds and allowed the insects to get the upper hand of things. As long as we have slaughtered the birds, we have left on our hands the work that they performed. Now it is Dr. Leiby, poison and self-help. We have a task on hand that must have everlasting attention, and that means the job is a big one and continuous. If the farmer will stop the absurd killing of birds on his place, he can save himself some work and some outlay for prison, but as long as we persistently invite everybody to kill every bird that is seen, the only recourse is poison. If we are to kill the birds and depend on poison, the next necessity is a closer acquaintance with Dr. Leiby, for he is the one salvation. His office is at Aberdeen, and he is always at the service of the farmer in this line of work. He is an exceedingly important individual at this time, and the farmer might as well cultivate his acquaintance right away, for he will be required to help with the making of crops as long as he stays in this section. He seems to be the one salvation.
From the editorial page of The Pilot, Vass, N.C., Friday, July 17, 1925
newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn92073968/1925-07-17/ed-1/seq-2/
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