The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1922-01-13

the State University, the experiment
station and the local officers Of Cleve-
land. Among the latter the City En-
tomologist, C. R. Nellie, a resource
full and indefatigable friend of trees,
gave special attention to the woaful
plight of the catalpas. To him came
the happy thought of using the air
plane. The best types Of dust spray
ers using gasoline engines could not
get the poison up into the tops of the
trees and there the worms had the
grove all to themselves.
"With the remark that only birds
could get the stuff up there the
thought flashed through Mr.. Nellie's
mind that it might be possible to do
the job with an airplane. AS quickly
as he could get connection over the
telephone with the army officers of
the Air Service at McCook Field at
Dayton, he stated the problem and
asked if the army would be willing
to cooperate in a trial Of airplane
spraying. First Lieutenant John A.
MacReady, one Of the eight engi-
neering students stationed there, hap
pened to be the man to whom the
appeal came. His instant answer was
that if the matter had the approval
of his senior officer, Major Maxwell
Kirby at Fort Benjamin Harrison;
he would be at the service of the en-
tomologists. Major Kirby also well
coined the job as one that the Air
Service could do, and in few days
Mr.. Nellie went down to Dayton and
worked out with Edward Dormoy,
the designer of the Engineering Di-
vision of the Air Service at McCook
Field, the form of a distributor to be
used on the airplane., ~
Happily no better place could
have been resorted to than the Air
Service Engineering School at Day
ton. Mr.. Dormoy is an expert in de-
sign in connection with airplanes,
and he soon hit on a simple arrange
ment for managing the spray Of the
dust. This was hopper to; hold 200
pounds of. calcium arsenate in the
form Of fine powder ground so
that 95 per cent. Of it would pass
through a wire sieve with 10000
meshes or holes to the square inch
about the fineness Of phosphate rock
prepared for ordinary agricultural
purposes. This hopper was attached
to the side of the plane to the rear
and below the occupants so that they
would escape the dust. A small reel
with spoonlike arms operated by q
crank was built into the lower part
Of the hopper to feed the dust and
get it spread out into the currents of
air created by the propeller blades of
the plane. -: ..
when the day came. for the ex-
pertinent to be- tried out Lieutenant
MacReady flew up from Dayton to
Troy, about twenty miles, bringing
Mr.. Dormoy with him. J. s. Houston,
Associate Entomologist at the Ohio
Experiment Station under Professor
II. A. Gossard, was assigned to go in
the plane with Lieutenant MacReady
to work the crank of the distributor.
The wind was blowing strong, and it
was found that the plane need only
to pass up and down at the side of
the plot of trees; the wind took the
powder over and spread it thorough
ly.
"Long after the plane had passed
the grove for the last time the dust
was slowly settling down on the trees.
Like trail of long white cloud the
poison was waited upon every leaf
and twig throughout the plantation.
Effective busting, Mr.. Houston says,
was accomplished over a space 600
feet wide, the dust being found $50
feet on the far side of the grove, the
grove itself being 400 feet wide. The
plane moved out SO feet from the
trees at the windward side of the
grove and from 20 to 80 feet above
TIE tops of the trees.
"Three days after the grove was