17 MAY 1924, Page 11

I have referred several times to the ravages caused by

the boll weevil to the cotton crops of the southern States in America, and an organized campaign has been carried out in many parts of the south to stir up public interest in the matter. The latest method of fighting the boll weevil is recorded by the Commercial Fertilizer of Atlanta, Georgia. Experiments on a large scale have been carried out in Louisiana of cotton dusting by aeroplane, and it is stated that the results obtained have been very satisfac- tory. The motion picture office of the Department of Agriculture has taken several thousands of feet of films showing this method of spreading calcium arsenate dust over the fields of cotton, by the aeroplanes. It is stated that the best results have been obtained in spreading the poison in this manner by early morning flights, when the air is still, and there are no air pockets to make flying more dangerous.