157 



MACHINES. 

 FOR FIELD USE. 



Many attempts have been made to perfect a machine that will assist 

 in the warfare against the weevil. They have been designed to poison 

 the insects, to jar them and infested squares from the plant, and to 

 collect them, to pick the fallen squares from the ground, to kill by 

 fumigation, and to burn all infested material on the ground. The 

 Bureau of Entomology has carefully investigated the merits of repre- 

 sentatives of all of these classes, beginning in 1895 with a square-col- 

 lecting machine that had attracted considerable local attention in 

 Bee Count}^ Up to the present time none of these devices has been 

 found to be practicable or to offer any definite hope of being even- 

 tually successful. At one time there was some hope that a machine 

 designed to pick the squares from the ground by suction might be 

 perfected. The experiments, however, have indicated probably in- 

 surmountable difficulties; and an implement concern, after having 

 experimented with the matter fully, and after having expended over 

 $5,000, has come to the conclusion that mechanical difficulties will 

 always prevent the perfection of such a machine. If it were not pos- 

 sible to raise cotton profitabl}^ without the use of a machine, the situ- 

 ation would be changed materially; but since it is possible to produce 

 the staple without the use of any other means than those which enter 

 into cotton culture everywhere, there seems no hope for these machines. 



Man}^ of these machines have been constructed and tested under 

 field conditions. In these tests the machines have invariably failed to 

 come up to the hopes and claims of the inventors. In the comparar 

 tively few cases in which any degree of efficiency has been shown, it 

 has been so small as not to justify the expenditure of time and money 

 required. From the tests made, it may be said that no machine has 

 yet shown sufficient efficienc}^ to justify its general use. 



The ultimate test with all methods or devices for controlling the 

 weevil is to prove through a series of seasons, and under a large variety 

 of conditions, that by their use there is produced an increase in the 

 crop treated or protected of sufficient value to more than repay the 

 expenses of the treatment or protection. As a general rule where 

 poisons have been applied or machines used, planters have provided 

 no check upon the results obtained, and have kept no close records as 

 to the expense involved and net gain or loss resulting from the treat- 

 ment. The result of such applications is, therefore, merelj^ a general 

 impression of gain or loss which may not agree at all with the facts. 

 Other factors than poison applications, or the use of machines, may 

 have operated to produce apparent gains in the crop, and unless these 

 are taken into consideration the conclusions drawn from the work are 

 likely to be worthless. 



