71 



I learned that the same injuries extended fartlier west along the river where alfalfa 

 was grown, and I proceded from Garden City to Lakin, observing on the way that all 

 alfalfa fields showed presence of grasshoppers, but that in some cases the bloom was still 

 free from serious injury or destroyed only in patches. At Lakin I learned that injury 

 had been serious, especially on the place of Mr. Longstreth, some two miles from town. 

 Some fields near the river and occupying low land were noticed in full bloom and .showing 

 little damage, but still grasshoppers could be found in abundance by closer inspection of 

 the fields. 



Mr. Longstreth's son, being in town, drove me out to his father's farm, and accom- 

 panied me on a tour through his extensive orchard of ten acres, his oat fields and alfalfa 

 fields, in all of which the damage had been serious. Many of the trees in the orchard 

 were entirely stripped of leaves, and in some cases the Vjark had been eaten from the 

 limbs. The alfalfa presented the same appearance as observed in other fields. I found 

 here a great many dead grasshoppers, whose empty shells attested the activity of 

 Tacldnce. 



I was told by Mr. Longstreth that skunks were amongst the most active enemies of 

 the grasshoppers, and he believed played an important part in reducing them. He had 

 even seen one up in an apple tree catching hoppers on the limbs. 



I learned at Lakin that alfalfa was also grown in the next county west, at Syracuse, 

 and that damage was also reported there, but on reaching the plaee found the injury 

 slight as compared with the other places visited. In fact, aside from one farm on which 

 some damage to alfalfa and orchard had occurred I could learn of no loss. Caloptenus 

 differentialis I found in some numbers, and there is little doubt that unless some effort is 

 made this fall and next spring to destroy eggs and young they will multiply as in other 

 localities, and probably by next season prove as destructive as in them. 



As this point carried me into the westermost row of counties in the State, and there was 

 no report of damage farther on, I determined to cross northward to the Missouri Pacific 

 Road, in order to follow up some rumours regarding damage from grasshoppers at some 

 points intervening, and which, from the descriptions given, seemed possibly to be due to 

 Dissosteira longipennis. No point where serious loss occurred was found, however, and 

 this species occurred but sparingly at points between Syracuse and Tribune, and occurred 

 at Horace only in small numbers, too few to cause any apprehension for the immediate 

 future at least. Taking the Missouri Pacific, I passed through to Kansas City without 

 finding any evidence of damage from grasshoppers, and as T could learn of no other 

 localities in the State than in the three counties examined where such damage was re- 

 ported, I returned to Ames, and will now proceed to a detailed account of the territory 

 examined, the species observed, and the special measures needed to meet the outbreak in 

 this section. 



THE TERRITORY AFFECTED. 



The damaged territory is quite easily defined and might very properly be said to 

 coincide with the irrigated portion of the Arkansas Valley lying in Finney, Kearney, and 

 Hamilton Counties in southwest Kansas. The entire irrigated district, however, is not 

 equally injured and there are some fields much less damaged than others. The whole 

 area covered extends with occasional breaks a distance of about fifty miles along the 

 river and forms a strip from one to five miles wide but limited entirely to areas 

 where irrigation has been practised, and within this limit is dependent upon the kind 

 of crops raised. 



The greater damage was observed at Garden City, though nearly as bad was seen at 

 Lakin, and but little was found at Syracuse, corresponding as near as I could learn pretty 

 closely with the length of time since alfalfa has been made a principal crop on the irri- 

 gated lands. 



THE CROrS AFFECTTD. 



Alfalfa is the crop in which there is the most loss, but orchards are suffering badly 

 and were they extensive throughout the district would very probably present the 

 heavier loss. 



