THE BOLL WEEVIL MONUMENT

In Enterprise, Alabama, there is a monument erected to the boll weevil. This pest, which almost ruined the cotton industry and threatened to destroy the South, is honored not because of its destroying past but because it helped to build the South. How? Because it forced the farmers to forget about cotton and begin to experiment with other crops. Today, the South flourishes because of sweet potatoes, peanuts, and a variety of other crops. The dreaded boll weevil, the enemy, actually did the South a good turn. The bad break became a good one. The diversification of crops made the South a versatile economy that was not dependent upon the rise and fall of a single product.