Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1920-02-16
BOIL WEEVIL POISON CONTROL
HAS TEXAS A. & M. ENDORSEMENT
o system VIII Be Put Into General Throughout eevn
Bell OF CottonGrowing Area in Texas-Need OF
Adequate Machinery OF First Importance
BY VICTOR II. ScHoFFELMAYER
Field Editor of The Semi-WeekIy Farm News.

real industry, and his future should
be assured.
Hand Guns Are Useful.
"The specialists of the United
States Delta Laboratory at Tallulah,
La, who have worked out the calcium
arsenate system of poisoning through
years OF experimentation, have found
three types of machine to give effect
I've service. The first is the dust
gun, small machine that is carried
by the operator and operated by the
turning of a crank. Operating such
machine is very laborious work, and
the man who can keep one of them
going straight through the day is q
wonder. Only very small acreage
can be covered with a hand gum and
about twice as many guns are needed
as will theoretically cover given
acreage, because they are so frequent
ly out of repair Still, with all its
disadvantages, the hand gun will CON
tlnue to be indispensable. 1t can
always be used to advantage to con
troll the weevil on small areas, such
as strips near timber, where weevils
hibernate and where the first outbreak
usually occurs. 1t will frequently be
found possible to prevent infestation
of an entire field by attacking the
first outbreak with hand guns. This
type of buster is also valuable as an
auxiliary to larger types.
up to this time most of the large
scale busting has been done with ma
chinery mounted on a four wheeled
truck. The truck is pulled by mules,
but the busting machinery is operated
by a gasoline engine. This type OF
machine has been made to do success
full work, but it has numerous disad-
vantages that, apparently, are insur-
mOuntable In the first place, it is
subject to innumerable delays / Not
only must accidents to truck and
team be allowed for, but there must
be added to this the delays that re-
suit from engine troubles, and an
engine mounted on truck and sub
ject to the jolting that must result
from night work in cotton fields j.
certain to give an unusual amount Of
trouble. The machine also is unwield-
ly, difficult to move from field to field
and exceptionally difficult to operate
among stumps and roots The CON
pleXlty of its c0nsL4 Gction and opera
ton makes it far from fool-proof,
and the average cotton-feld negro
helpless in its presence. In additio~
to all this, the four-wheeled true,
tears down a great deal Of cotton.
"The third type of buster, and the
one that promises to come into mos.
general use and meet the require
ments most fully, is a two-wheeled
affair, drawn by two mules The dust
ing machinery is driven by Sproc'----'-
on the traction wheels. 1t is much
less complicated and more efficient
than the engine-driven machine. 1t
is also much more nearly fool-proof,
and more likely to be operated sue
cessfully by the type of labor that
must be mainly relied upon in the
cotton belt.
Experimental machines of this
type, built by the machinists at the
Delta Laboratory and used in their
cooperative operations with Delta
planters, stood up under a hard sea
sons work, though they were built
much lighter than would be required
for a permanent model, and gave by
far the most satisfactory results that
have been obtained in cotton busting
machinery.
"Men who are acquainted with the
essentials of such construction say
that good machines of this type can
be built to retail at around 5000. Only
few manufacturer, are as yet inter
ested in making them. The strong
demand and shortage of supply,
therefore, may force higher price
at the outset. From Semi Weekly
Farm News.