Pueblo chieftain., 1922-01-23
BY Frederic ]. Ha.kin

WASHINGTON, d. c. Jan. 90
That the airplane. together with some
OF the instruments for the use OF
poison gas and liquid fame, may be
successfully used against insects,
which are mans worst enemies. next
to himself seems to be indicated by
experiments which have been con-
Quoted here and there.
Tho most successful experiment, and
that upon which most of the high
hopes seem to be based. was the spray
ing OF grove OF ornamental trees in
Ohio from an airplane, which COM
pletely destroyed the caterpillars in
testing the trees at n single flight. The
carried in n hopper below tho plane.
AS the machine passes over the trees II
heavily busted with the poisonous ma
terial a belt of land 500 feet wide. II Is
reported that 9? per cent OF the cater
pillars were killed and that the
ground. after the attack. was literally
covered with the dead.
Now the Department OF Agriculture
Is at work on a plan for tho use of the
sirplane in fighting its ancient enemy.
the boil weevil. Millions have already
been spent by the government in its
fight on the weevil. and billions have
been lost by reason OF tho fact that
the boil wcevil has not been destroyed.
The boil wcevil has for generations
literally been eating the shirts off our
backs and tires off our csrs--for cotton
as much as rubber Is the basis Of tire
construction.
THE wEEvIL ARMY
The problem of fighting the boil
weovil would seem to be in some re-
spccts much like that OF checking an
army. The boil wocvil advances slow
ly along an immense front. The diff
Guilty is to cover that whole front at
one time, so as to check tho advance
effectively. Presumably. IL the advance
could be checked. the enemy could be
destroyed. but eradicating the weevil
here and there does no permanent good
II he liz spreading in other places.
Thurs the government cannot well put
large enough army In tho field to
check the wcevil all along his advanc-
ing front at once by hand spraying.
The individual planter does what he
can. but what between the boil wcevil
and the fuctuating price of cotton, he
often lacks the funds to do the, work.
one planter may spend slj an acre
in intensive spraying. and clean the
boil wcevil ont of his farm. But his
reighbor may be a poor tenant farmer
who cannot afford TO spend even the
81 an acre which is necessary tf any
crop is to bo made at all. So the wecvil,
checked at ono place, advances at an
other.
The plan skctchcd out by tho gov
ernment calls for n scrlna of airplano
stations reaching clear across the cot
ton belt on the boil woevil front. When
YOU realize that "A single plane nyinR
across this front might destroy the
weevil completely over swath 600
feet wide. ,and when you reflect how
much time and how many men II
would take TO do the same work by
hand Won got some idea of tho posyi-
bilities of the new method. But 1t has
its difficulties, too. The spraying. to
be effective. must be done at night
when the dew is on the plant, 1t seems
The air service, however seems to
he prepared and willing to undertake
the work under these conditions.
Then again. the expense will be
heavy. Calcium arsenate costs about 10
cents pound. and enormous duant-
ties of it would he necessary for this
lavish method OF distribution. There
is no doubt that the work would far