EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETINS. 



877 



four rods wide without plant growth. The instance cited was a strip used 

 in the spring for a plant bed. It was along the end of a field next to a 

 pasture field. The plants had all been taken up and transplanted in other 

 parts of the field and the strip left idle until used for a late crop of celery. 

 The locusts were plentiful along the border, but only a few wandered in 

 far enough to reach the celery, while the other borders were suffering from 

 locust invasions. The disuse of so large a strip of land makes this method 

 of prevention rather expensive unless the surrounding land is of little 

 value. The surrounding of the fields with ditches partly filled with water, 

 although reported as effectual, is also quite an expensive outlay. 



At my suggestion, Mr. Slater of Tipton tried sweetened bran with Paris 

 green added, as suggested on page 4 in bulletin 98. He reports that he 

 had no trouble in getting the hoppers to eat it, but was unable to tell 

 whether it killed them or not. From some experiments conducted by my- 

 self there seems to be no doubt but that they are killed and quite quickly. 

 The locusts were placed in three lots of which one was fed on molasses and 

 bran with enough Paris green added- to give it a green tinge, another the 

 same with strychnine instead and the third without poison. Inside of 

 twenty-four hours those fed on the Paris green were all dead. At the same 

 time only one of those given strychnine was dead, and all were lively and 

 active in the unpoisoned case. It is quite probable that Paris green used 

 in this way will prove very helpful in keeping the number of locusts 

 diminished, but care must be taken that it is not used where fowls or stock 

 can get at it. 



What at present seems to be the most effectual means of thinning the 

 numbers is a modification of the "hopper dozer" spoken of and illus- 

 trated in bulletin 98. This modification was devised and used by Mr. C. 

 H. Hardy of Tipton and, from his trial of various remedies through the 

 season, he feels that this method is superior to all others. He bought large 

 flocks of turkeys and chickens hoping they would keep the locusts in check, 

 but they trampled the plants and ate the plume of the older ones and did 

 not diminish the number of locusts as much in a day as two men would 

 in a few hours with his hopper collector. The accompanying cut shows 



Fig. 3.— Modification of the "hopper dozer" as ased by Mr. Hardy, a, Whiffletree attachment— (original) . 



the outline plan. The pan is made of sheet iron and is about 12 or 15 feet 

 long by 4 to 6 wide. Then with a high fender on three sides and project- 

 ing wings from these and a whiffletree attachment at one end as at a, the 

 mechanism is complete. The horse draws the pan to where it is to be set 

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