(I i; i-'lMEM)S AND FOES 



139 



How can we disturb this soil in which the females 

 have placed their eggs? If the ground is to be plowed 

 in the spring this will suffice, but in the case of meadow 

 lands and pastures this cannot be dune. In the case of 

 alfalfa, a meadow crop, it has been found that if this 





FIG. 111. Beneficial mite. Red mite (Trombtdium locust arum), an fstrrnal 

 parasite on membrane of wing of grasshopper, impairing powers of flight. Greatly 

 enlarged. 



crop be harrowed in the early spring with a disk har- 

 row, the process greatly increases the growth of the 

 plant, in both root and stalk. This results in a much 

 larger yield of forage. This plant, by reason of its 

 early spring growth, furnishes nourishment for I he 

 emerging grasshoppers at a time when, if they had to 

 hop far for succulent food, many of them would prrNi. 

 So, fields which have grown this alfalfa crop year after 



