A SOWING 

A E R O P L A N E 

Patrolling over forests to safeguard them against fire and to establish the presence of harmful insects these problems have been satisfactorily solved by agricultural aviation. 

Photo by V. Kinelovsky. 

Photo by Valentei. 

Aviation is adopted in agricultural development in the Soviet Union more than in any other country. In 1931 agricultural aviation completed its five-year plan of combatting field and forest insects. Thus, with the aid of aviation 130 000 hectares of field were cleared of locust and other insects, and 111 000 hectares cleared of malaria musquitos. Aeroplanes were used in locating forest fires (about 20 forest fires were discovered in the Nijni­Novgorod province). For the first time in history experiments were made in sowing rice from aeroplanes. These experiments gave excellent results. 4 000 hectares were sown. Aeroplanes are also adopted in photographing landscapes, which is much more productive than topographic work. 102 500 hectares were photographed in 1931. Experiments have been made in artificial melting of ice and snow, in planting trees, in destroying weeds, in dispersing fogs by spreading a substance charged with electricity, and in liming soil.