BOLL WEEVIL CONTROL BY USE OF POISON. 17 



ORGANIZATION OF POISONING OPERATION. 



The organization of the poisoning operation will differ consider- 

 ably with variations in the size and type of the farm involved, but 

 in general may be roughly classified into three groups : First, the large 

 plantation operation where the poisoning is conducted by a separate 

 organization on a wage basis, all crops being treated regardless of 

 tenantry; second, the operation on a large plantation where the 

 treatment of each crop is left to the individual tenant; third, the 

 operation on the small farm where all the poisoning is conducted by 

 the owner and his laborers. 



The majority of the work which has been conducted by this de- 

 partment has been located on large plantations which are operated 

 on a tenant basis. Under this form of operation each tenant is in a 

 way an independent farmer in that he has a particular crop for 

 which he is responsible, but at the same time he is operating under 

 the direction of the plantation manager and deriving more or less 

 support from the plantation, paying as a rule a certain proportion 

 of the crop yield in lieu of rental. This condition complicates the 

 poisoning situation. Some planters desire to purchase small-scale 

 machinery for each tenant, leaving the treatment of his crop to the 

 tenant and making this a part of the regular farming operations. 

 Theoretically, the planter would seem by this arrangement to get 

 the work done for nothing. In reality, however, the tenant's time is 

 so fully occupied by his regular duties that he can conduct such work 

 only by neglecting other necessary operations. Furthermore, it has 

 generally proved impossible to get the operation properly conducted 

 if left to the individual tenant. This not only means that the op- 

 portunity for weevil control is lost on their crops but that these 

 fields become a menace to the adjacent cotton which may have been 

 properly poisoned. Weevil poisoning is a, plantation and not an in- 

 dividual field proposition. For this reason nearly all the dusting 

 work which has been done in the past has been organized separately 

 from the regular routine operations of the plantation. Separate la- 

 bor is secured and assigned to the poisoning operations and applica- 

 tions are made regardless of tenantry or crop arrangement, and are 

 based purely on the distribution of the weevils over the place. This 

 calls for skillful supervision, and where the property is large, involv- 

 ing the use of a considerable organization, it is generally found advis- 

 able to employ a competent man to take charge. This arrangement is 

 particularly desirable at the present time, since the operation is so 

 new and there is still so much to be learned about the most economi- 

 cal means of procedure. 



The farmer who cultivates his own crop, or at least does so to a 

 considerable extent, is in much closer touch with the progress of 



