C0TT03T OR. WEEVILS 



11 



the field that had been dusted, while in a field across the road which 

 had not been dusted there was hardly any cotton. 



For several years after this first experiment Government workers 

 tested this way of controlling the weevil to be sure that they were 

 right and to find out the best and least costly way of using the 

 poison. Many cotton planters were afraid at first that the expense 

 would be too much for them and they feared that it would not pay 

 to poison their cotton. It was some time before these farmers 

 could be convinced, but we know now that it will pay to use the 

 poison if the weevils are seriously hurting the crop and if the land 

 on which the cotton is growing is rich enough to produce one-third 

 of a bale to the acre when there is no boll-weevil damage. We also 



Fig. 6. — The hand dust gun is the smallest kind of machine for dusting cotton plants 

 with calcium arsenate to kill boll weevils. The man who uses it turns a crank 

 which causes a fan to blow the poison dust out of the long nozzle sticking out of 

 the front 



have learned that if the cotton farmer will see that the poison is 

 put on the plants at the right time and in the right way, a good 

 crop will follow. 



Poison can not be put on the plants in the right way without 

 proper dusting machines which are specially built for this work. 

 There are several kinds of dusting machines on the market, and 

 perhaps you have seen and used some of them. The hand dust gun 

 (fig. 6) is the smallest kind of dusting machine. As you will see 

 by looking at the picture, the man who uses it walks between the 

 cotton rows and turns a crank on the machine which causes a fan 

 on the inside to blow the poison dust out of the long nozzle sticking 

 out of the front. The man who works the machine must keep the 

 end of the nozzle pointed toward the cotton row while he turns the 

 crank so that the poison will be sure to go on the plants. Hand 



