Possumblog

December 11, 1919

From the Library of Congress American Memories collection--

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. A beetle measuring an average length of six millimeters, the insect entered the United States via Mexico in the 1890s and reached southeastern Alabama in 1915. It remains the most destructive cotton pest in North America.

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. [...]

More on the history of "The City of Progress" may be found here, and here is a photo of the monument.

On this great day, the Axis of Weevil offer our own heartfelt salute to voracious insect pests and the beneficial changes they have wrought.

Posted by Terry Oglesby at December 11, 2006 01:35 PM