Kansas Acadevij of Science. 265 



EXPERIENCE WITH AN OUTBREAK OF GRASSHOPPERS 

 ON OVERFLOWED LAND IN LOUISIANA. 



K. S. Tucker. 



UNDER date of May 28, 1913, a planter of Oscar post office, 

 Pointe Coupee parish, Louisiana, reported that great 

 numbers of grasshoppers had appeared on his farm and other 

 lands in his vicinity which had been overflowed by the 

 Mississippi flood which had come through the Torras crevasse 

 in the previous year. For several weeks past he had noticed 

 the insects steadily developing in size, having been very small 

 ac first, but at the time of writing many had acquired wings. 

 Although the adults, in company with the partially or nearly 

 grown forms, still devoted themselves chiefly to weeds, yet 

 some of both the mxature and the young hoppers were invading 

 the cultivated fields to such an extent as to threaten the crops 

 by their attacks. 



So numerous had they become in waste places that on being 

 disturbed by the approach of a person their jumping out of the 

 way shook the weeds and produced a sound like the patter of 

 falling rain. Considering their menace, he wanted to know 

 wl'.at means he should employ to check them from further at- 

 tacks on his young corn. Another party, who telephoned from 

 near the samie locality on the 29th, stated that himself and the 

 planters around him. were alarmed by the hordes of grass- 

 hoppers which had damaged cotton as well as corn, though 

 occurring only on land that had been covered by the flood of 

 the year before. 



In reply, instructions were given for preparing and placing 

 poisoned bran as a bait and applying poison on weeds and 

 cultivated plants, which practices have proved successful in 

 ether states. The directions were as follows : 



To poison grrasshoppers, make and use a bait composed of bran, 40 

 pounds; arsenic or Paris green, 3 to 5 pounds; molasses or cheap syrup, 

 2 gallons ; water, about 2 gallons. Mix well and apply in rows along the 

 line of advance, preferably along the fences where the insects congre- 

 gate. Strew in a continuous row or in handfuls every few feet. Grass- 

 hoppers seldom feed after partaking of this mixture, but they may not 

 die so as to be noticed much less than two or three days later. Poison 

 may be dusted on the weeds where the insects are thick, but it should 

 not be applied at full strength on corn or other grov/ing crops, as it will 

 burn the plants. Be careful of stock and poultry. 



