304 REPORT 4, UNITED STATES ENTOMOLOGICAL COMMISSION. 



^* The usual way of applyiug dry poison is to sift it over the leaves 

 by means of an ordinary bread-sieve firmly attached to a handle 3 or 

 4 feet long. One or two layers of muslin should be placed in the 

 bottom of the sieve to prevent a too rapid escai)e of the powder. With 

 some practice in handling these sieves the foliage of the plants can be 

 pretty evenly dusted, but in general there is considerable waste of the 

 poison by this method. One man can go over 1 acre per day, but if 

 the plants are high enough, and the soil not too much softened by rains, 

 the poison can be sifted by men on horseback. This secures a more 

 even movement, and consequently^ less waste of material. Some have 

 tried, with advantage, to dust two adjacent rows at once by means of 

 a stick of suitable length with a sieve fastened to each end, the oper- 

 ator riding between the rows and tapping the stick gently, either with 

 his hand or another stick. 



'''• An old sack, such as those used for table salt, will do good service 

 attached to the end of a stick, but the safest thing for use on a small 

 scale is a perforated tin box (Plate LYII, Fig. 7), with a double lid 

 (for security when not in use), and having a handle 3 or 4 feet long. 

 By taking the handle of the dust-box in the left hand, and tapping the 

 box with a stick held in the right, the poison may be rapidly and evenly 

 distributed, not only on the upper surfaces of the leaves, but on the 

 under sides as well, if the box is held within and among the plants. 



^' A number of patents have been taken out for machines for dusting 

 the plants with poison, but for some reason or other none have become 

 popular, and I have not been able to learn that any of them are in use 

 at the present time. The object of these machines is to distribute the 

 poison more economically and rapidly than it is done by the simple 

 sifting method here mentioned. The reason of their not becoming 

 Xoopular is, perhaps, that they do not accomplish their object. The gain 

 in the more economic use of the powder is not large enough to induce 

 the planters to invest in them, especially where labor is cheap, as the 

 employment of an additional hand is more satisfactory." 



The Rurd Sifter and Bloicer. — This is really a sifting machine with an 

 oscillating sieve for feeding the blast of a rotary blower, and is fully 

 described as The Hurd Blower above. 



'' The Goodheart Buster and iSjjrinlder. — This machine, invented by Mr. 

 James Goodheart, of Matawan, K J. (patent I^o. 204720, June 11, 1878 "), 

 applies both powder and a liquid spray. ^'The dusting apparatus con- 

 sists of a box with a screen bottom, the whole being agitated by means 

 of a lever connected with one of the wheels. The sprinkler consists of 

 a transverse pipe with a number of holes at its lower forward side. The 

 machine is drawn over but one row of i)lants." — Bulletin No. 3. 



KoTARY-siEVE MACHINES. — In these the sieve containing the poison 

 is round, generally cylindrical, and receives a rotary motion to assist the 

 poison in gravitating through the small perforations. 



^'The Bohinson Dusting and SprinlcUng Machine.— Several machines 



