COTTON 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 
Fic. 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 
ne causes a fan to blow the poison dust out of the long nozzle sticking out of 
e 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 
