February, '14] DEAN: KANSAS GRASSHOPPER CONTROL 67 



guarding the financial interests of both themselves and their customers. 

 The educational campaign will be extended through the holding of 

 beat meetings throughout the county, at which some of the most 

 successful local men may tell what they have found from actual experi- 

 ence to be most feasible and profitable in that particular community. 

 By cooperative action, the necessary agricultural and economic read- 

 justments can be made gradually, but at a rate that Avill offset the 

 increasing capacity of the weevil for damage, which usually reaches a 

 maximum about the third year after the infestation begins. In this 

 way the total value of farm products can at least be maintained, better 

 agricultural practices inaugurated and prosperity most certainh" in- 

 creased. Labor must be retained, bad accounts avoided and fore- 

 closures of mortgages prevented, also, if success is to be achieved in 

 this campaign. 



At its recent state convention the Alabama Bankers' Association 

 unanimously and enthusiastically voted to support this movement and 

 work along this line is a leading feature in the work of that association 

 this year. There is no measuring the possible good that may result 

 from this movement. By it the value of the Farm Demonstration 

 Work, for instance, can probably be doubled in one year with very 

 slight additional expenditures. Much, however, depends upon local 

 initiative and leadership, and the leaders in this movement must have 

 a clear vision as to the possibihties of Southern agriculture under the 

 application of the* best methods of farming with diversified crops and 

 increased stock. They must reahze the full capacity for damage of the 

 boll weevil and must be willing to face the situation with frankness, 

 but with unflinching courage and faith in their ability to make the 

 fight against the weevil successfully. 



President P. J. Parrott: This is certainl.y one of the most 

 interesting phases of committee work on a large scale. If there is no 

 discussion we will now take up the paper by Mr. George A. Dean on 

 "Grasshopper Control Work in Western Kansas.'"' 



GRASSHOPPER CONTROL WORK IN WESTERN KANSAS 



By Geo. A. Dean, Entomologist, Kansas State Agncultural College and Experiment 



Station 



For several years the native grasshoppers, the most common species 

 of which were Melanoplus differentialis, Melanoplus bivitattus and 

 Melanoplus atla7iis, had steadily increased in numbers over the western 

 counties of Kansas, and in many of the counties did a large amount 

 of damage to the crops. In the early fall of 1912, conditions wera- 



