The daily star-mirror. (Moscow, Idaho) 1911-1939, 1923-07-30
FIGHTING BUGS
WITH AIRCRAFT
Experiments Show Poison Car
Be Distributed With Re-
markabIe Precision.


that the U. s. Army air service viii
use a motorized balloon to make I
chemical attack upon the gypsy mott
In New Hampshire recalls the inter
| estfng pioneer experiments In fighting
| insects with aircraft
Q. r. Nellie and J. S. Houser, liz
a communication to the National &c
| ographfc society, related their prac
| teal test of distributing insecticides
! from aloft as follows:
I'm these very modern times one
should be prepared to expect the TN
usual, but to be told upon inquiry for
a man at his office that He Is up in
the air; don't know when he will
come down is so ultra modern that
the average person would be taken
somewhat aback.
'Such, however, was the experience
of the writer's one summer day dur
ing the course of the work herewith
reported. And after a short time, the
one for whom inquiry was made did
safely come down This was Lieu
tenant J. A. Macready. acting chief OF
the flying section of the governments
aviation experimental station at Nc
Cook field, Dayton, Ohio-the man who
piloted the machine which was an
epoch maker In the annals OF insect
warfare
1.-TWO years ago there occurred in
Ohio three full broods or crops of the
caterpillars, each sufficiently numerous
to defoliate completely the grove in
which they appeared. Some groves
put out three full crops of foliage and
each in its turn was wholly consumed
by the ravenous worms.
"Our work was directed against the
second brood of caterpillars working
on the second crop Of foliage.
Method of Attack.
1.-THE plane used was a Curtis JN-6
equipped with a hopper for carrying
and lfberating the poison powder This
hopper was secured to the fuselage of
the plane BY the side of the observ- |
er's seat. 1t consisted of an irregu- |
larly shaped fiat metal box with a ca
pacity for holding a little more than
100 pounds of dry arsenate of lead |
powder.
'At the bottom was arranged slid
ing gate, operated by q handle acces-
sible to the observer in the plane. At
the top of the hopper was crank,
connected by a sprocket chain to a
revolving mechanism in the bottom
which when placed in motion dropped
the poison powder through the previ-
ously opened sliding gate
Immediately upon leaving the hop
per the dust dropped into the slip
violent air current set
up by the revolving propeller-and was
thrown into violent agitation In
dense white cloud which trailed out
behind the moving plane as If the ma
chine were on fire and belching large
volumes of white smoke.
THE catalpa grove in which the
lusting was done was situated on lev |
i ground and had been planted for the [
rowing of post and pole timber. It
vas a rectangular plot 800 feet long t
nd 1876 feet wide and contained APP {
six acres. The trees, 4,S15 g
n number, were from 25 to 80 feet a
ALL I
1.-THE plane flew at speed of eighty b
niles an hour at an altitude of from
0 to 80 feet and in a line So yards to
he windward and parallel to the
rove. The dense cloud of poison
ust thrown out behind the moving
lane was grasped by the wind and
Dated through and over the grove
overing the foliage in its passage
ettIe on the trees in the immediate
,reground, but to our surprise we OBJ
srved that little currents of air which
e termed booster currents were ris-
g in the grove and these had a ten
ancy to toss the settling dust cloud I
pward, whereupon 1T would be
-asped by the wind blowing parallel
the earth's surface and thus car
ed onward even to and beyond the 3
r side OF the grove. :
Poison Well Distributed. :
"Not a tree could be found, and :
any were climbed and examined !.
hose leaves did not bear particles :
the deadly poison, easily detected .
the unaided eye. :
"In all, the busting plane passed :
e grove six times and distributed :
out IT'S pounds of the poison. Since :
CHI passage required but nine sec .
DIS, the total time consumed in the :
tual work Of busting was "a sec
DIS, thus establishing q worlds rec 4
i for speed In applying insecticides
forest areas.
THE outstanding feature of the ap- n
cation was the remarkable precision Il
th which the poison could be placed ID
the point intended, thus dispeliing
idea expressed by many before
, test was made that the poison
st would be tossed willy-nilly by the