In the late 1950s into the late ’60s, a firm in Pocahontas, Iowa, manufactured a product similar to the Blitz Fogger (see “The Blitz Fogger,” Farm Collector, April 2015) called the “Poky Smoker.” In 1958, we were moving to a farm where the previous tenants were quite unsanitary. My dad acquired a Poky Smoker, hooked it to our Farmall M’s exhaust and completely smoked the house through a basement window until smoke escaped through the roof shingles. Thank goodness we found a different farm to move to later in 1958 in Palmer, Iowa.
In 1964, my wife and I and our family moved home from Omaha to Pocahontas to farm with my father and brother. We smoked our corn fields that summer at lay-by time with 2,4-D by using a Poky Smoker mounted on a Farmall M with a 448 cultivator. The cultivator had a piping system somewhat like pipe drops used with liquid spray. Small Poky Smokers were also made to fit on lawn mower engines. I don’t know what ever happened to this product. I saw one sell on a farm sale about five years ago near Pocahontas. Your story about the Blitz fogger in the April issue was very interesting and brought back a lot of memories.
Gary Imhoff, P.O. Box 134, Lohrville, IA 51453; (641) 431-0509