1919 



ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



observed a three-year old apple orchard of 1,500 trees completel}' defoliated on 

 August 17, and before the grasshoppers attacked the tree foliage they had cleaned 

 up the navy beans which had been planted between the trees over most of the 

 ground covered by tlie orchard. The insects even girdled the twigs in many places. 

 At the same place we observed a bearing orchard with 20 per cent, of its ripening 

 ])eaches destroyed, in some cases only the seed being left attached to the tree. 

 It sometimes happens that the grasshoppers remain active until after wheat appears 

 above ground in which case they may keep the wheat plants cut off close to the 

 surface and as might be surmised, it requires but few of the insects to cut off the 

 young tender wheat plants over a considerable area. 



Excellent results in combatting grasshoppers have l)ecn ol>taincd by the ai)pli- 

 (3ation of two standard remedies, namely, poison bait and the grassho])per catcher. 

 As a general rule we have continued to recommend the standard poison bait formula 

 of bran, molasses, fruits or lemon extract and a poison, preferably Paris green or 

 ei'ude arsenious oxide or white arsenic if neither of tlie first two mentioned are 





Fis. 



6. — Ripening peaches damaged by grasshoppers. Some- 

 times only the seed remained attaclied to the trae. 



available. However, the experiments of the past year, and especially the experi- 

 ments conducted at Janesville, 'Wisconsin, by Mr. D, A. Eicker of the Lafayette 

 Laboratory, indicate the non-essentialness of fruits or lemon extract when dealing 

 with mature grasshoppers and that further studies based on age of the insect, 

 meteorological conditions, et cetera, will show the need of important changes in 

 the formula for grasshopper bait. Likewise a half and half mixture of hardwood 

 sawdust, preferably that taken from an ice house, and bran has given results 

 sufficient to warrant its recommendation. Indeed, Mr. E. E. Twing. county agricul- 

 tural agent of Kalkaska County, Michigan, reports thorough success the past season 

 in his county campaign against grasshoppers, using sawdust alone in place of l)ran 

 in the poison l)ait. He used several tons of white arsenic for poison IVait for 

 practically all of which sawdust was used as the base. The crude arsenious oxide 

 mentioned is a l\v-product of the copper smelters of the western states and is 

 obtainable in barrel lots at 8 to 9 cents per pound ; and in ordering, a powdered 

 grade should be specified. It has given excellent results the past sea-on wherever 

 we have had an opportunity to observe its use and the results are practically equal 

 to those obtained where Paris green was ued. It was tested out in a grassho])per 



