The Bulletin. 



41 



For use in very large plantations a still more rapid method of 

 dusting is desirable. Fig. 18 shows a very similar method adapted to 

 more wholesale use. A longer pole is used than with the hand duster 

 and a larger bag of poison is tied at each end; the laborer rides 

 a mule (or horse) down a middle and shakes the dust out as he goes. 

 We can readily see that many acres can be treated in a short time by 

 such a method. Reporting upon investigations conducted in 1903 in 

 Texas, Professor Quaintance shows* that in a 5-acre plat there was a 



I 



FlG. 18.— Poisoning cotton in large fields by pole-and-bag method. 

 (After Quaintance, Bur. Knt., U. S. Dept. Agr.) 



net profit of $5.79 per acre from three applications with the dusting 

 method, after allowing for cost of materials, labor, etc. But as the 

 Boll-worm is more destructive in Texas than in North Carolina our 

 farmers could not expect so high a return except in years like 1907, 

 when the Boll-worm was more destructive than usual. But there can 

 be little doubt that in many seasons when our farmers have "laid 

 by" the crop and are scarcely looking at it (merely waiting for the 

 harvest), there would be profit in one or more dusting treatments in 

 certain parts of the field, at least during August and early Septem- 

 ber. Professor Quaintance suggests that dusting applications should 

 be made at night, or early in morning or late in evening, to secure 

 the very best results, as the plants will then be damp with dew and 

 the poison will stick better. 



♦Farmers' Bulletin No. 191, U. S. Dept. Agr., "The Cotton Boll-worm," p. 20. 



