THE SCIO TRIBUNE
PAffC SIX
■
BOLL-WEEVIL
A
Pe-sf, But Not Altogether an Evil
Oiagram Shewing Arrangement f*r the Prevention of Oeclllatlon In R. F.
Beta. Using th* “Anostat' Combination Control.
By HARRY J. MARX. In New Yer*
Her*ld-Tr«bun*.
By JOHN DICKINSON SHERMAN
OME day the bug« will get
ua-If we don't watch out.
Ho »ay the entomologlsta.
And other aclentlais «ay
the bug men are quite
right
What they mean 1»
that the locusts, grssaiiop-
¡■era. tmetles. borer*, wee
vil» and other | tests of the
world threaten to eat ua out of
I.Oil«.. and home and starve ua t<>
death. They hold that the Inaect world
la man'» most dangerous enemy—*o
dangerous that only by eternal vlgt
lane» and unceasing warfare will ilia
human race be able to survive
In the meantime Uncle Sam. Ento
mologist. Is authority for the official
statement that a billion dollar annual
loaa Is Indicted u | h » u our gardeua,
fields. orchards and forests by a hun
dred or mure Imported Insect penta.
Mind you. Uncle Sam says. "Import
ed peats" Offhand one would say that
the earliest of these Imported ¡testa
was the ll«-«alan fly. which was
brought over In the Itevolutlon by the
mercenaries hired by Georg* III from
a German prince We treated the lie»-
slana rough- you remember what
George Washington did to them at
Trenton--and the fly they brought In
their straw packing has since de
stroyed enough of our wheat to pay
the German war debt.
There haa Is-en a succewslon of these
Imported ¡testa ever al nee
So now-
adays Uncle Kam has a small army at
work flghtlng (hem. In the Agricul-
turn! department, for example. tie has
established the bureaus of plant Indus
try and entomobtgy and the Insecticide
and fungicide l«»ard. Through them
ha watches the ¡torts to keep new
¡teats out. lie scour* the earth for
psnt resisting plant* and for Insect*
that prey on pe«t* that prey upon ua.
lie experiment* with Insect poisons.
A 'Jfl acre farm which Includes In «erf
¡■eats among It* chief crop* 1» operate«!
at Vienna. Va. The American people
pay some fi4O.OUH.iXM) a year for Insec
ticide* and fungicides with which to
combat crop |>e»ts, fungous growths
and household vermin At the Vienna
farm the ¡«ests ar* ¡tenanted to reach
their full measure of destructiveness;
whereu|w>n they »rs Subjected to treat
ment with commercial Insecticide* and
fungicides to tletrrmlne ths effective
ness of such preparation*.
Right now there Is a big controversy
going «n over th* Importation of nar
cissus bulbs. Uncle Kam says that
after January 1 Importation will lie
restricted.
Why!
Because these
bulb* are frequent and abundant car
rier* of two peats; bulb flies and the
NampSM eel-worm Th* former eala
<>nlona and the latter onion*, clover,
rye. oats and potatoes. Both have al-
reedy gained a fo<>th<4d here.
Of all these Imported ¡vesta the one
to get most frequently ender the lime
light Is ths Mexican cotton boll weevil.
Scarcely a newspaper but Baa news of
It* doing* or what la Ivelng done to
It. For eiampl*. an Item of current
osws ta that an agricultural extenalon
aervlc* survey show* the cotton fields
of North Carolina to be more heavily
Infestmi this year than lust. In some
cases a» high as flu ¡M-r cent.
Another tell* of th* discovery of a
germicide that will rid the Mouth of
th* ¡H-st by a prisoner tn th* Atlanta
Federal ¡wnllrtitiary who had bes-n a
Baltimore scientist of note
A third la that the chemical warfare
service of the United State* army haa
town turned loo** on the boll weevil
with orders to fln l some poison that
will put It out of business for all time.
Probably one reason for the ¡<cr»l»t
ent throwing of the limelight on th*
boll weevil la th* fact that cotton I*
on* of our big crop». Motu* years It
equals In value th* corn crop. Th*
«-otton belt extend* from the Atlantic
to Texas and Oklahoma; probably It
will be exten<l«-«l clear to th* Pacific.
And this American belt grows 54 per
cent of the world'* cotton. Our ex
ports of cutton are about twice those
of the rest of the world and w* uae
!k> ¡ver cent of the world's production.
The boll weevil (Anthonomus gran
dla) la a gray Inaect about the alie of
a housefly. Iloth adult» and grub* In
jure the «-Alton th* former by feed
ing. puncturing and laying eggs; the
latter l>y feeding on th* content* of
the boll*. The l>oll weevil first entered
the l'nlte«l State* from .Mexico In ltC.
getting a foothold In southwestern
Texas, Infestation spread »lowly hut
surely. Climatic conditions made 1MI5
a year of catastrophe tn the matter
of Inft-stallon; no less than MI.S40
square miles of cotton raising territory
were reported In lm«l sha¡>*. All told,
th* boll weevil has cause«I th* loss of
many million bales of cotton; also It
has largely reduced at times the area
devoted to cotton.
And yet the Mexican boll weevil, tn
It* own way a top notcher a* a crop
destroyer, haa not proved an unmlxed
evil to all of the cotton-raising South
On the contrary, on* Alqbama town la
actually grateful to It and ha* shown
that gratitud* by erecting tn th* pub
lic square a monument In It* honor.
Tlvl* town la Enterprise ami th* In
scription on the monument rends;
la l'r-.f»un<i Appreciation of
THE Rot.l. WEEVIL
And What It Ha* Dos* a* th*
Herald of Prosperity
Thia Monument I* Erects*
llr th* Cttlsen* of Enterprise.
Coffss Coanty. Alabama
Rack In BH3 ‘‘Cotton Was King" In
»’offe* county
Then cam* th* boll
weevil and cut down the yield 1») per
cent. In 101« the whole countryside
*M wrrvked and rulm-d. The wolf
waa at th* door, for planter* knew
starts then radltrfrrquency amplifica
tion can be used to full advantage.
It«atstance is *n tna*i>arabl* fac But this control must not be such as
tor In all electrical circuit* It may to add resistance In the tuned circuit*.
Plate Voltage Control.
mH t>* thcro in th* form of a rheostat,
OBclUatlon can be effectively pre-
potentiometer or other [dec* of re-
slManro »¡«¡«nratua. but every part of . vented If a variable resist a are is con-
the circuit. whet tier It Is just copper nect*d In serlt-s be tween th* plate or
wlr*. connections, condensers, colls or primary coIla of the radio frequency
any Oliver unit, ha» *otn* resistance transfurmen ami th* “B” battery to
value. It may be great or small, a* prevent «vacillation by reducing th*
th* rose may be. but It exist* and I* plate voltage on the radio-frequency
a factor In the drciilt. Copper wlr* 1« tub«-«. Now, by connecting a on«-half
• good conductor, meaning It* resist- mfd. condenser between the "B" ter-
•he* ta low, while a non.-ondenner sim mlnal of tbe primary on the radio-fre
ply mean* something that has ■ very quency transfortnero and the fllament
terminal of the tubes, this artificial
high resistant-«.
Present «lay radio apparatus I* ao resistance «-an be shuntt-d out of tbe
designed as to reduce aa far as prac tuned circuit. Thia condenser closes
tical all resistant-« in th* tuned cir the plate circuit to the fllament of ths
tube foe tbe radiofrequency current*,
cuits
in other words, on account of the con
Oscillation.
denser these currents <k> not have to
Th!» elimination of surplus real st ¡vans through the resistance—hence
anc* permit* much sharper tuning the resistance does not affect the tun-
•nd. therefor*. Improve* selectivity . Ing and selectivity.
But in radio-frequency circuit* it mul-
This variable resistance provides a
tlplle* th* tendency of tube* to go Into mean* of reducing th* plate voltags
oscillation, producing th* assortment ■nd therefore control* o*ciltatl«m.
of squeal*, howls and whistles which Thl* mean* of controlling oscillation
not only come out of th* loud »peaker, wa* first utilised rommerclally by H
but bark up and go out tn th* air to F. Andrew* tn the dereanadyn* re
play Ivavoc with (b* neighbors' recep ceiver.
tion.
Ths •'Awoetat."
¿Jhe <dd and ln<-«rrect practice was
Engineers have now developed ths
to add a potentiometer In th* sec- > . use of thia by-passe«) plat* circuit ro-
otidnry circuit of tbe radio-frequency , slatanc* a* a volume control, a* well
nothing of diversified crops and the •’•gro
This was equivalent to re- I
' as an oeclllatlon control. Thl* I* don*
lodi weevil had <kitni)rd King Cotton. placing the resistance back Into th*
by using an extremely high variable
Write* Carl W. Dipman in Good Hard apparatus. It reduced th* oscillation resistance having a maximum valu* of
ware (New York):
tendency, but fl likewise killed the several megivhma. The circuit I* juat
Hut tt>* elty official* and ths busts»»« selectivity that was dealrod and tn ad tlv* same as for the control of oscilla
msn got <o*»«h»r Th»y dsetd«* some dition materially reduced tb* volume. tion. Tb* flrst ¡«art of the rralatanc*
thing m*»t bs dons and done quickly Resistance should not b* added where
can be use«! for «vacillation control, and
They saw farmers leaving ths farm*
and ths young men flocking to th* It becomes an Integral ¡«art of tbe the high resistance part for control-
«tiles They »aw a dying Enterprise radio frequency circuit*.
Ing volume. Volume can thus Ive ad
Ko they began yteachlng diversifica
Tbe fundamental raua* of oscilla justed without the slightest distortion,
tion- f<-r the llr»t time In the history tion Is due to a groat extent to th*
•nd with great saving In "B" battery
of that »action Within one year Cof-
fea county broke the world'» record In amount of voltags semes the plat* current.
the yield of peanuta. for a elmliar are*, circuit. If thl* voltag* la controlled
A combination control which may
and also In the return In dollars and *0 (list It esn t>e sdjusie«! to a value be used for thia pnrpo** is known a*
rents fur bogs snd cattle shipped Ths just below the point where oeclllatlon
; th* "anostat."
farmer* raised their ewn hay. corn,
potato»» *nd other produce for homo
consumption, which they bought pre
viously. when they raised only cotton.
Speaker Connections
Coffee county has now become a flour “Kilocycle'* It Taking
ishing cattle and hog market, as wall
Place
of
“
Wave
Length
”
That Will Vary Pitch
a* a peanut market
Alabama now
Belts to th» Mld-lle West
Before. It
A new word, "kikvcycl*,“ gradually
Many radio listenera find that th*
bought only
Is taking tbe place of th* word "w*v* pitch of the music received I* abov*
Ry Itlt and 1*1». this entire section length" In th* vocabulary of radio
or below normal.
An lm|»edanca
had learned the loeeon of diversifica
tion. As a result. the whole county ten*.
placed in the ap*ak*r circuit will rats*
Th* Ivepsrtment xf Commerce ha*
WM rolling tn prosperity It was not
until after the coming of the bug that explained that th* marking or logging the pitch. With a awltch to cut tn con
Enterprise saw paved etreeta and side <>f dials la found to have certain ad denser* of different sixes as shown, th*
walk*—paved at a coat of many thou
pitch may b* varied at wilt
sand* of dollars The hardware stores vantages In th* new term "kllocycl*." ,
did a flourishing business and ths sama which means frequency, or tb* num
Three changes are shown, the upper
waa true of other stores Several small ber of wave« per aecond.
position with th* smallest condenser
factories camo to the elty and the poet
"Just a* a musician." the depart giving the higher pitch. The lower
office rose from fourth class to second
class llandooms school buildings and ment said, "can vary th* number of position with Impedanc* an«l condene-
flns churches, hospitals and beautiful oeclllatlooa of bls vocal cords, but | era cut out and battery feed through
homes were erected All because the cannot control the length of th* sound
farmers learned to rates something be ! waves, so a radio station can vary i
sides cotton
la It surprising, thea.
that on one of the principal streela of tbe number of «veclilatluna per aecond, !
this little city was erected. In Decem and let th* wave leugtlvs be what they
ber of 1*1*. a monumental fountain to will.
the memory of the Mexican boll wee
"To obtain the frequency when th* ,
vil? This monument stands today as
the only monument over erected to the wave length In meter* la known divide
memory of a peat, on the American iisi.tssi by th* wav* Irogth tn meter*.
continent.
Ths mneh-dreaded bolt
weevtl proved to bo a blessing la dis The answer la in kllocyt lee. Likewise,
: th* other way round, divide fiuu.uuv by
guise
Whet. It wa* fllacovsrcd that calcium th* number of kilocycle* to get
ar**nat* wa* Just about th* beat com met era."
bative ngulnat th* boll weevil, thou
Minds of "rrmedlce" wer* taken Into
Tube I* Not Governed by
Switch to Cut In Condsnasr* ta
ths South. Som* of them wrro worse
Control Bitch.
Brilliancy of Filament
than th* boll weevil, Unde Sam** In-
•ectlclde board wa* kept busy reme-
Tb* effective operation of any
dying tbs rovnedie*. Now they have vacuum tub* la not governed by th* the »¡waker gives th* lowest tone Th*
tww-n pretty well regulated. Mo all th* brilliancy of tb* filament. Aa a mat •witch require* two arm*, th* contact
cotton planter* are busy these tlaya ter at t»ct. on* Sbtvuld never ua* th* edge of th* lowest being filed down to
give clearance from tbe upper. Th*
dusting their Held* by man power, brilliancy of the filament as an Indi
Inner contact« stwuld b* smaller than
mill* ¡lower, and even by airplane.
cator that th* tub* la working prop
th* outer and »¡M««ed as clooe as p«j*-
erly.
Mtvdern
vacuum
tubes
have
a
It'* a fair guess that th* I h >I| w**vll
•lbl* t* each other.—Radio Digeat.
will com* to a violent end before long coating placed over tbe filament which
—and by poison. Maj. Gen. Amo* A. greatly ln<re«*es tbe electron emis
Seldom Work Together
Fries, head of tbs chemical warfare sion. The filament merely serve* aa a
Radio frequency and regeneration
aervlc* of th* army, ba* established ■ heater to generate tbe emlaalon of
On* will find that with seldom work together for th* slmpl*
research laboratory at the Georgia ex- electrons
¡■•riment station at Griffin,
lie ha* tubes using the coated filament tb* rv-a»-«n that th* »et become* unstable
cotton planta. He la paying a cent Ilf* of the tube* 1* not governed by and extremely bar«I to handle Adding
apiece for live, vigorous hoi I ««-evils , th* filament burning out, but by th* only one stage of radio frequency to
In lot* of a thousand or more, He ha« loaa or deterioration of th* coating on aa ordinary regenerative »et la a pur*
at bl* command a myaterion* lot of the filament. When this happens th* wast* of time, a* th* regeneration ac
deadly potaona and gases developed la 1 tubes will remain lit. but no signal* tion la fully aa good as on* stag* of
radio.
th* World war. And be Ls out to get i wlU b* beard.
th* boll w**vtL