Boll weevil
From Freepedia
- For other uses, see Boll weevil (disambiguation).
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| Anthonomus grandis Boheman, 1843 |
The boll weevil (Anthonomus grandis) is a beetle measuring an average length of six millimeters (¼ inch). The insect crossed the Rio Grande near Brownsville, Texas to enter the United States from Mexico in 1892 and reached southeastern Alabama in 1915. It remains the most destructive cotton pest in North America. By the mid 1920s it had entered all cotton growing regions in the U.S.
On December 11, 1919, the citizens of Enterprise, Alabama erected a monument to the boll weevil, the pest that devastated their fields but forced residents to end their dependence on cotton and to pursue mixed farming and manufacturing.
The infestation led to the introduction of the peanut--an alternative crop popularized by the Tuskegee Institute's George Washington Carver. Peanut cultivation not only returned vital nutrients to soils depleted by cotton cultivation, but also proved a successful cash crop for local farmers.
By mid-1921, the boll weevil had entered South Carolina. In a 1939 interview for the Federal Writers' Project, South Carolina native Mose Austin recalled that his employer was adamant "He don't want nothin' but cotton planted on de place; dat he in debt and hafter raise cotton to git de money to pay wid." Austin let out a long guffaw before recounting, "De boll weevil come...and, bless yo' life, dat bug sho' romped on things dat fall." Austin remembered that the following spring, his employer insisted on planting cotton in spite of warnings from his wife, his employees, and government agricultural experts:
- De cotton come up and started to growin', and, suh, befo' de middle of May I looks down one day and sees de boll weevil settin' up dere in de top of dem little cotton stalks waitin' for de squares to fo'm. So all dat gewano us hauled and put down in 1922 made nuttin' but a crop of boll weevils.
- "Always Agin It," Place Chapin, South Carolina, John L. Dove, interviewer, January 24, 1939. American Life Histories, 1936–1940
The next year, Austin's employer tried the same ill-fated experiment. Ultimately, the man lost his farm and moved with his disgruntled wife to California.
The boll weevil contributed to the economic woes of Southern farmers during the 1920s--a situation exacerbated by the Great Depression.
Following World War II the development of new pesticides enabled farmers to again grow cotton as an economic crop, but at great expense and environmental risk. In 1978 a test was conducted in North Carolina to determine if it was feasible to eradicate the weevil from the growing areas. Based on the success of this, area wide programs were begun in the 1980s to eradicate them from whole regions. These are based on cooperative effort by all growers together with the assistance of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). The program has been successful in eradicating weevils from Virginia and the Carolinas, Georgia, Florida, south Alabama, California, and Arizona. Efforts are ongoing to eradicate the weevil from the rest of the United States. Continued success is also based on prohibition of unauthorized cotton growing, outside of the program, and constant monitoring for any recurring outbreaks.
Some entomologists believe that the success of the program is based just as much on the predation of the fire ants as on the human eradication efforts.
The Boll Weevil Monument
The Boll Weevil Monument is located in Enterprise, Alabama. It was dedicated December 11, 1919 and is located at the intersection of College and Main Street. The statue features a woman wearing a white gown with her arms stretched above her head, holding a boll weevil. It stands 13 and half feet tall and is surrounded by a lighted fountain. This has given Enterprise the nickname “The Weevil City.”
The monument was constructed as a tribute to the animal that brought a new era of prosperity to Coffee County. In 1915 the boll weevil had made its way through Mexico and Texas to Alabama. It destroyed the cotton and thus the livelihood of the farmers in the area. H.M. Sessions saw this as an opportunity to convert the area to peanut farming. In 1916 he convinced C.W. Baston, an indebted farmer, to back his venture.
The first crop paid off their debts and was bought by farmers seeking to change to peanut farming. Cotton was grown again, but farmers learned to diversify their crops bringing new money to Coffee County.
Bon Fleming came up with the idea to build the monument. The statue, minus the boll weevil, was built in Italy for $1,795. The walled basin built around it brought the total to $3,000 that was financed through Fleming and other contributors. The boll weevil was not added till 30 years later, when Luther Baker thought the Boll Weevil Monument should have a boll weevil on it. He made the boll weevil and attached it to the top of the fountain that was no longer in use.
The boll weevil, and sometimes even the entire monument, has been stolen many times through out the years and each time was found and repaired by the city of Enterprise until July 11, 1998. On that day vandals ripped the boll weevil out of the statue's hands and permanently damaged the statue. City leaders were going to repair the original statue and put it back but, it proved too difficult and costly. The replica still stands in downtown Enterprise, and the original is on display at Enterprise’s Depot Museum. There is a security camera near by that monitors for further vandalism.
Trivia
Between 1996 and 2000, the minor league baseball team in Kannapolis, North Carolina was called the Piedmont Boll Weevils, a nod to the city's heritage as a textile mill town.
