222 EXPERIMENTAL FARMS 



1-2 EDWARD V!!., A. 1902 



if possible, assist in the remedial measures which were being taken to prevent loss. 

 I reached Winnipeg on June 30 and at once reported to the Honourable R. P. Roblia, 

 and talked over the whole matter with him and his deputy, Mr. Hugh McKellar. 

 Leaving Winnipeg on July 2, in company with Mr. McKellar and the Rev. W. A, 

 Burman, I visited all the localities from which reports of locusts' injuries had been 

 received. The following report made to Mr. Roblin at the conclusion of this investiga- 

 tion recounts all the chief features of the expedition : — 



Winnipeg, Man., July 6, 1901. 

 The Hon. R. P. Roblin, 



Minister of Agriculture and Immigration, 

 Winnipeg, Man. 



Dear Sir, — I have the honour to inform you that in accordance with your request 

 I have made an inspection of those districts in Manitoba from which complaints have 

 been received by your Department of injuries to crops by grasshoppers, so as to apprise 

 myself of the actual state of affairs and the conditions prevailing, so that, if neces- 

 sary, I might be in a position to advise you whether, in my opinion, any further steps 

 could be taken by your Department to reduce injury and control this pest. 



I left Winnipeg on the morning of Tuesday, July 2, in company with Mr. Hugh 

 McKellar, the Chief Clerk of your Department, and Rev. W. A. Burman. We reached 

 Rosenfeld Junction at 10 a.m., and started at once and drove to Altona (8 miles). 

 Here we were joined by Mr. John Hebert, who kindly came with us to a farm belong- 

 ing to Mr. Isaac Bergen (4 miles distant), and showed us a field of wheat in the edge 

 of which a swarm of grasshoppers wa3 doing some injury. These were chiefly the 

 Lesser Migratory Locusts (Melanoplus atlanis, Riley), a native species, which on sev- 

 eral occasions has been the cause of considerable injury. The insects were for the 

 most part immature and unable to fly. A similar occurrence of the grasshoppers in 

 the same state of development was seen at Rosenfeld when we left the train. There 

 were in both of these places some mature grasshoppers with fully developed wings, 

 by which the identification could be confirmed, and also in smaller numbers the Pellu- 

 cid Locust (Camnula pellucida, Scudd.), and the Two-striped Locust (Melanoplus hi- 

 vittatus, Say), but these two latter species were in smaller numbers than the first. At 

 this point good work could be done, as was explained to the farmers, with hopper 

 dozers or the Paris green mixture. These grasshoppers had come from a piece of land 

 left for summer-fallowing where the eggs were laid last autumn. 



We then drove 6 miles to Plum Coulee, finding grasshoppers rather numerous all 

 the way, and near Plum Coulee noticed a few of the true Rocky Mountain Locust (Me- 

 lanoplus spretus, Uhler) mixed with the Lesser Migratory species. This occurrence 

 should warn the farmers to be on their guard and to make every effort to plough down, 

 as advised by your Department, all land in crop this year, either this autumn or early 

 next spring before the eggs hatch. It is well known that, although all of the injurious 

 locusts lay their eggs upon bare spots in the prairie, the condition of the soil where 

 a crop is grown is exactly what suits them best for egg-laying, and that the females 

 will by preference resort to these fields to deposit their eggs. During the whole of this 

 investigation we found it an almost invariable rule that where locusts were injuring a 

 crop, they had originated in a near-by stubble field, or in untilled land once in crop 

 but now neglected. Changing horses at Plum Coulee, we drove past Winkler to Mor- 

 den (16 miles), where we passed the night. From Plum Coulee to Morden colonies 

 of the Lesser Migratory Locust were seen at several places. At Morden, Mr. Gal- 

 braith showed us land which had been stripped by the Red-backed Cutworm (Car- 

 neades ochrogaster), a caterpillar of a species of moth which has been very destructive 

 in many parts of the province during the month of June, particularly to the oat crop, 

 in gardens and flax fields to a much less degree, to barley and in one or two rare in- 

 stances to wheat. The preference, however, has been decidedly for oats. In the Carman 

 district the preference shown for the oat crop was very remarkable, great injury having 



