TTHE BOLL WEEVIL MONUMENT

Boll Weevil Monument

The Boll Weevil (Anthonomus grandis) is a variety of beetle and is very destructive to crops.  American farmers regard it with intense dislike.  Yet it has a monument dedicated to it in Enterprise, Alabama.  Why so? I hear you ask.

Boll weevils first crossed into the United States from Mexico towards the end of the 19th Century and wrought havoc in farming communities.  But, with a view to staying its destruction, farmers learned to diversify their crops.  Some changed to growing peanuts.  They also started employing the more efficient practice of crop rotation.  In a way, therefore, the destructive little insect improved farming and the profits it yielded.  This led to the erection of the monument in 1919.