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Airplanes in insect-pest control
508
CURRENT
TOPICS.
[J. F. I.
roe C.C. of liquid which collects in that time, the “ residue ” is run off. Further liquid coming from collapse of the froth, the “ intermediate solution,” is similarly separated. The stiff foam is let stand over night and produces 25 C.C. of liquid. The specific conductivity of the original soap, the residue and the liquid from the foam were measured several times. The residue always had a smaller and the foam a larger conductivity than the original solution. The reduction on the average amounted to 2.2 per cent. and the increase to 2.5 per cent. Similarly the refractive index of the residue was smaller and that of the foam greater than that of the original solution. Chemical analysis showed that the foam contained, in comparison with the soap solution, 6.3 per cent. more sodium and 6.7 per cent. more In further analyses changes in chemical composition fatty acid. An acid amounting to as much as 25 per cent. were detected. sodlium soap collects in the surface, and not oleic acid as such. The composition of the material in the surface is NaOleate.o.6IHOleic. G. F. S. Airplanes in Insect-Pest Control.-(U. S. Department of Agriculture, Clip Sheet No. 398, February 8, 1926.)-The experimental work done by the Bureau of Entomology in the use of airplanes for distributing insecticides has been carried to the point where commercial organizations have now undertaken this operation as a business. Airplane dusting is a proved success in the control of cotton insects. During the cotton-growing season of ~925 more than 50,000 acres of cotton were dusted commercially with airplanes. Great progress has been made in the development of special planes for cotton dusting, the best methods of flying, and the application of the principles of airplane dusting to the operation of ordinary ground machinery. At Montezuma, Ga., comparative tests have been made on large peach orchards with airplanes and ground power dusters. By means of the airplane dusters it was possible to apply the combined insecticidal and fungicidal dust very rapidly. About 5000 trees were dusted per hour, including the time required to return to the landing field and reload. The final results from airplane-dusted peach trees as compared with results from trees dusted with ground machines indicate practically as good control of the curculio by the one method as by the other. Very successful tests have been made to determine the feasibility of airplane distribution of larvicides over large areas against malaria mosquitoes. Flooded rice fields where mosquitoes breed abundantly are well adapted to airplane treatment. In making bark-beetle surveys on the Sierra National Forest airplanes were used to locate infested trees. An observer was carried in each plane and photographs were taken of nearly twenty square miles of timberland. A much clearer idea of the distribution of the infestation was obtained and the infested trees were readily located on the prints. R.
CURRENT
TOPICS.
[J. F. I.
roe C.C. of liquid which collects in that time, the “ residue ” is run off. Further liquid coming from collapse of the froth, the “ intermediate solution,” is similarly separated. The stiff foam is let stand over night and produces 25 C.C. of liquid. The specific conductivity of the original soap, the residue and the liquid from the foam were measured several times. The residue always had a smaller and the foam a larger conductivity than the original solution. The reduction on the average amounted to 2.2 per cent. and the increase to 2.5 per cent. Similarly the refractive index of the residue was smaller and that of the foam greater than that of the original solution. Chemical analysis showed that the foam contained, in comparison with the soap solution, 6.3 per cent. more sodium and 6.7 per cent. more In further analyses changes in chemical composition fatty acid. An acid amounting to as much as 25 per cent. were detected. sodlium soap collects in the surface, and not oleic acid as such. The composition of the material in the surface is NaOleate.o.6IHOleic. G. F. S. Airplanes in Insect-Pest Control.-(U. S. Department of Agriculture, Clip Sheet No. 398, February 8, 1926.)-The experimental work done by the Bureau of Entomology in the use of airplanes for distributing insecticides has been carried to the point where commercial organizations have now undertaken this operation as a business. Airplane dusting is a proved success in the control of cotton insects. During the cotton-growing season of ~925 more than 50,000 acres of cotton were dusted commercially with airplanes. Great progress has been made in the development of special planes for cotton dusting, the best methods of flying, and the application of the principles of airplane dusting to the operation of ordinary ground machinery. At Montezuma, Ga., comparative tests have been made on large peach orchards with airplanes and ground power dusters. By means of the airplane dusters it was possible to apply the combined insecticidal and fungicidal dust very rapidly. About 5000 trees were dusted per hour, including the time required to return to the landing field and reload. The final results from airplane-dusted peach trees as compared with results from trees dusted with ground machines indicate practically as good control of the curculio by the one method as by the other. Very successful tests have been made to determine the feasibility of airplane distribution of larvicides over large areas against malaria mosquitoes. Flooded rice fields where mosquitoes breed abundantly are well adapted to airplane treatment. In making bark-beetle surveys on the Sierra National Forest airplanes were used to locate infested trees. An observer was carried in each plane and photographs were taken of nearly twenty square miles of timberland. A much clearer idea of the distribution of the infestation was obtained and the infested trees were readily located on the prints. R.