318 



cents per pound. On the other hand, I found that the recent discovery 

 of mixing London purple with lime, thus avoiding any scorching of 

 the plants, has remained entireiy unknown in the South. At any rate, 

 the cost of material, which in former years formed one of the principal 

 objections to the application of arsenical poisons in dry form, plays 

 now rather a subordinate role, as will presently be shown. 



A uniform mode of application of arsenical poisons prevails now 

 thronghout the cotton belt, and to anyone who has witnessed the mode 

 of warfare against the cotton worm, as largely practiced in 1879 and 

 1880, tlie contrast must appear a most striking oue. At that time the 

 wLole energy and ingenuity of the South as well as of the men employed 

 in the government investigations of the cotton worm were directed 

 toward the improvement of the application of arsenical poisons in 

 liquid form. That all the numerous sprinklers, spraying machines, and 

 nozzles, which were then invented, are now altogether discarded; that 

 the two important inventions made in the course of the government 

 investigation, viz, the cyclone nozzle and the kerosene emulsion, should 

 prove to be x>reeminently useful against all sorts of other insect pests, 

 but not against the cotton worm — all this forms certainly a remark- 

 able chapter in the history of economic entomology. 



To be sure everyone recognized at that time the superiority of the 

 dry application of Paris green over all other remedies, but this method 

 as then practiced was a very costly one, and the general desire of 

 lessening tbe cost of and poisoning many rows at once led toward the 

 eflbrts to improve the wet application. However, the magnitude of the 

 chief objection to this method, although frequently alluded to in the 

 published reports, viz, the difficulty in obtaining water on most cotton 

 fields, had been greatly underrated. Moreover it was generally found 

 that all spraying machines could, on account of their weight, only 

 operate with difficulty om heavy soils and in wet weather; finally, the 

 machines after having been used for one season were found to be ren- 

 dered useless by rust the next season. Thus after one or two trials 

 with the spraying machines the planters generally returned to the dry 

 application, and the old method, viz, mixing the poison with a larger or 

 smaller quantity of flour and sifting it over the plants by means of a 

 bread sieve * still largely prevails with owners of small fields, especially 

 in Texas. 



The larger planters in the States visited by me have now generally 

 adopted the ''pole-system," which has been practiced by individual 

 farmers as early as 1878, This method is now so universally known 

 that a further explanation is unnecessary; it suffices to say that the 

 pole itself, the mode of fastening the bags, the m-aterial of which the 

 latter is made, vary greatly according to the individual experience of 

 the planters, and that only one improvement — but a very important one — 



*See Coinstock's Cottou lusoct Report, p. 246, and Riley's Report, p. 141. 



