568 



STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



poison to 25 lbs. of bran, should be stirred up with water to the con- 

 sistency of dough; sometimes cheap molasses is added to make it stick 

 together better. This is made up into small balls and placed about the 

 field. The greatest care must be observed for a long time after using 

 these baits that no live stock or poultry be allowed to gain access, and 

 if it is impossible to completely exclude them it is best not to use the 

 baits. 



Another plan, which is perhaps the most universally used because it 

 can be employed after the young brood appears in the early summer, 

 and also because it does not require the use of poison, is the hopperdozer 

 (Fig. 2). This is a long, shallow pan of sheet-iron set on runners and 



Fig. 2. Hopperdozer. 



having behind it a banner or sail made of canvas or muslin stretched 

 on a wooden frame. The bottom of the pan is covered with rags or old 

 carpet previously wetted with water. When all is ready a pint of 

 kerosene is poured into the pan and distributed over the wet rags, and 

 the banner of cloth is also moistened with kerosene. The dozer is then 

 dragged on its runners over the field and the hoppers either jump in or 

 try to jump over, in which case they strike the banner and fall back into 

 the oil. A mere touch of the oil is certain death; it may take a minute 

 if the insect falls directly into it, or it may take half an hour if the insect 

 simply alights on the banner moistened with the oil; but no matter 

 whether the insect dies immediately or requires a little time, he is sure 

 to die eventually, as has been proved time after time. The great majority 

 of the hoppers that jump into the pan jump out again at once, but they 

 die just as certainly and almost as quickly as if they remained. 



Hopperdozers are useful on open spaces only, and their size may vary 

 from four feet long to about twenty feet. The shorter styles can be used 

 to advantage in lanes and in places partially covered with trees or brush, 

 and the longer styles on smooth, level plains. It is often found expedient 

 to fasten two or three side by side, as they follow the inequalities of the 

 ground more evenly than a single wide one. They can be used to drag 

 around a field of grain, after cutting a strip wide enough to allow the 

 dozer to pass, preventing in a great degree the migration of the grass- 

 hoppers into the grain. Grasshoppers do not like moisture, and they 

 usually gather in the open spots when the dew is on the grain, to return 

 when the warmth of the day has dried everything. At such times the 

 hopperdozer is especially useful. 



