REPORT OF TEE ENTOMOLOGIST AND BOTANIST 223 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



been done, and where wheat fields came right up to the oats that crop appeared to b« 

 untouched while the oat8 were entirely devoured, even twice in some places where the 

 fields had been re-sown too soon. The caterpillars seem to have attained their full 

 growth about the third week in June, and up to that time any growth on the infested 

 oat fields was destroyed. The remedies against cutworms are the keeping down of all 

 weeds in the autumn upon which the eggs are laid or, when the caterpillars are found 

 to be present in the spring, the distribution over the ground of the poisoned bran bait, 

 which has been fully described in the last annual report of the Central Experimental 

 Farm. 



Leaving Morden early we drove 7 miles to Nelson, where the Lesser Migratory 

 Locust was found in large numbers, mixed with the Pellucid and Packard's Locust 

 (Melanoplus Packardii, Scudd.). We now drove to Rosebank (8 miles) swinging off 

 to Mr. Pearce's farm where locusts were reported. These we found were almost all 

 the Lesser Migratory and the Pellucid Locusts, many of them not mature. Near to 

 Rosebank we found the Pocky Mountain Locust in small numbers. From Rosebank 

 we took the Canadian Northern Railway to Fairfax, which is almost 14 miles south- 

 east of Souris. From this point we drove a mile east to the farm of Mr. W. D. Moffat. 

 Here we found the true Rocky Mountain Locust in enormous numbers, all mature, 

 but still in a soft condition. Mr. Moffat was ploughing down all his stubble land, 

 and intended poisoning with Paris green the following day. We next drove to Elgin 

 where we passed the night, and proceeded to Flartney the following morning. Owing 

 to the very heavy rain during the night, not many grasshoppers were moving, but the 

 Lesser Migratory species and a few of the Rocky Mountain Locust were seen at several 

 places and in too large numbers to be ignored or neglected. We took the train from 

 Hartney on the morning of the 4th to Brandon and attended the annual champion 

 ploughing match on the Experimental Farm in the afternoon. We heard of locusts 

 in large numbers 4 miles north of the Experimental Farm, and a few specimens of the 

 Rocky Mountain Locust were taken on the farm itself. At this point Mr. F. D. 

 Blakely, of the Nor-West Farmer, joined our party. Leaving Brandon at 7.40 on the 

 morning of the 5th, we went to Sewell, where great injury has been done this year, 

 and where there was also much loss last year. Mr. Kellet drove us to his fields where 

 the insects were in incredible numbers, almost all the Lesser Migratory species, but 

 also small numbers of several other native species of less importance. Adjoining Mr. 

 Kellet's land were several other crops of wheat which were being rapidly devoured, 

 notably one large field of 200 acres, owned by Mr. Thomas Greenwood. These insects 

 had undoubtedly migrated to the crops from unploughed summer-fallows. Nothing 

 is yet being done, but much could still be accomplished by using the Paris green mix- 

 ture. Everywhere through the crop, where bare ground showed, were patches of locusts 

 from 50 to 200 or 300 together, and on the summer-fallows, with the exception of a few 

 weeds, such as two of the Wormwoods (Artemisia frigida and A. Canadensis) and 

 strangely one kind of grass (Panicum dichotomum), all vegetation was being rapidly 

 devoured right down to the ground. 



Driving towards Douglas, and 3 miles east of the farms mentioned, magnificent 

 crops were seen, but the work of the grasshoppers was evident in many places. The 

 farms of Mr. Moore and Mr. R. Russell were visited. At that of the latter an excellent 

 illustration was found of the value of the Paris green mixture as a practical remedy 

 against locusts. Adjoining a piece of unploughed summer-fallow was a piece of good 

 wheat swarming with the Lesser Migratory Locust, most of the insects in a dying 

 condition. For a space of 50 yards from the edge of this crop, where the remedy 

 had been only once applied two weeks before, the ground was literally strewn with 

 dead grasshoppers, and all along the edge of the head land, where they had gathered 

 during the wet weather, the dead insects were lying in such numbers as to resemble 

 a windrow ; on one spot 117 were counted in 18 inches square. At a corner of a field 

 where, owing to their numbers two applications had been made, the dead locusts were 

 even more numerous. At Douglas we heard of considerable injury having been don« 



