The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1920-07-20


the weevils. II it contains too much
water soluble arsenic it will kill or
injure the plants. Mixtures of all
kinds are condemned. Calcium arse
nate may be kept as long as four
years if it is stored in dry place.
There is always the possibility OF
poisoning both men and horses work
| ing in calcium arsenate dust. Though
no serious injury has ever been re
ported, the specialists urge the tax
| ing of all reasonable precautions. Per
sonal cleanliness is the most impor-
tant. Operators should be required
to battle as soon as they have COM
pleted the busting work and under no
circumstances should they be per
mitted to eat or drink without wash
ing their hands and faces with soap
and water. Horses and mules used
to pull the busting machine should be
muzzled to prevent the possibility OF
poisoning by eating grass and weeds
along the rows.
Generally speaking, at least B
pounds of calcium arsenate per acre
should be used.
The best time to dust is when the
humidity is high, the air calm and the
plants moist with dew. 1t is neces-
sary that every portion of the cotton
plant be covered by the fine particles
of poison dust and this can not be
done when the wind is high or the
plants dry 1t is usually necessary,
therefore, to do nearly all of the dust
ing work at night, early in the morn
ing or late in the evening.
Three Times Usually Sufficient.
The first application should be
made when the weevil injury reaches
j 10 to Is per cent of the bolls, and the
effort should be to hold it below %
per cent. The poison reaches and kills
the adult weevils and has no effect
whatever on the immature stages de-
veloping in the bolls and squares.
Three applications are usually sufti-
cient to effect the desired measure of
control. They should be about four
days apart. Poisoning should not be
attempted except under conditions
that will justify sufficient machin-
cry outlay to go over all the cotton
poisoned at about four-day intervals.
1t is advisable to repeat an applica-
ton Immediately if a drenching rain
falls within 25 hours after treatment.
1t is sometimes advisable to poison
J heavily infested portions of the field
earlier in the spring. The heaviest
infestation is usually near timber or
other Information quarters, and early
poisoning of few acres may greatly
reduce the infestation of the entire
field and delay considerably the neces-
!; sity for general poisoning.
Weevil poisoning, the specialists
say, is a plantation and not an indi-
vidual field proposition. 1t is unsafe
to expect each tenant to poison his
crop. Much better results are OBJ
tanned if the plantation management
undertakes all poisoning operations.
Three types of satisfactory dust
machines have been deyeloped-th
hand gun, the wheel traction machine
and the engine power machine. A
hand gun should not be expected to
cover more than Is acres of cotton,
and it is safer to figure on one gun
for every two acres Even on this
basis, hand guns should not be relied
upon where there is a considerable
acreage of cotton. The hand gun is
of great value for early season work
vi SpOGS Va DlSll lill6oCotIIOII anu 1Ol
use in conjunction with power ma
chinery for treating spots that can not
be @eached with the power machine.
The medium or large planter, there
fore, needs a few hand guns to sup
pTement his power machines.
Cart Buster Covers IS Acres
A wheel-traction or cart buster can
| be made to take care of about rs
acres. It's operation requires the work
of man and two mules. 1t is SIM
pier in construction and easier to
handle than the engine-power ma
chimes. This type was developed by
the Department of Agriculture to
meet the need for machine between
the hand gun and the engine-power
buster.
An engine-power buster, theoreti
cally, will take care of about 100 to
200 acres of cotton, but it is cumber-
some and difficult to handle success
fully. A machine requires two or
more mules and two men.
The department specialists are
working now toward the development
of buster that can be attached to a
saddle and operated from mule back
or a single wheel buster to be run be-
tween the rows and drawn by one
mule.
AS most of the busting is done at
night, artificial light is necessary.
The only lighting system that has
given satisfaction is a special model
of acetylene light using a compressed
carbide cake fuel It. is compactly
constructed and the cart is compare
lively low.
The cost of poisoning operations
for the season may be estimated to
run from 81 to $40 an acre. Gains
in seed cotton as the result of poison
ing properly done will run from 200
to 1000 pounds.
The first question to be decided by
anyone contemplating poisoning, the
specialists say, is whether or not his
conditions are such as to enable the
operation to be profitable. The soil
is sometimes so poor that, even if a
complete normal yield were secured,
the crop would not pay the cost of
poisoning. Regardless of conditions,
it is ordinarily best for a farmer to
undertake poisoning at first only a