112 JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY [Vol. 5 



secured an appropriation of a few tliousand dollars for two years' 

 work in an effort to discover the l)est method of controlling this pest. 

 With this money four men were paid to be in the field all of last sum- 

 mer. The work of these men was largely directed by Mr. M. P. 

 Somes, of Iowa, and under his oversight a large amount of work has 

 already been accomplished. The efforts of these field workers were 

 directed along certain definite lines. Headquarters were established at 

 Fergus Falls in the Red River Valley, and there, through the courtesy 

 of city officials, we were given a laboratory, and also secured near 

 the city a piece of land for experimentation. 



The laboratory work consisted largely of breeding, studying the 

 moults and the raising of parasites, and upon our experimental ground 

 we planted grain crops to test thereon the efficacy and safetj^ of a poi- 

 son spray to be referred to later. We also secured the co-operation of 

 many farmers of intelligence in the matter of this spraying. 



An important feature of the work, and one which took almost the 

 entire time of the leader, and also a large share of the time of one of 

 the other workers, consisted in answering calls of individual farmers 

 who needed advice or encouragement or both. This has taken much 

 time and much money, as one will readily realize, and we have deter- 

 mined that another season this part of the work would have to be 

 discontinued. We are willing to meet and discuss the question with 

 groups of farmers, when such meetings are called for this purpose, 

 but we found that often farmers who had no special occasion for 

 our help, summoned us frequently, although quite indifferent to what 

 we had to say and to our advice. This was not, by any means, alwaj^s 

 the case, and I believe that, in spite of the large expense occasioned 

 by this variety of work, much good was accomplished by our individ- 

 ual visits. 



The attitude of the farmers and citizens generally was one of interest 

 and showed a co-operative spirit, at the same time many instances 

 were met with which were discouraging. This, I believe, is particu- 

 larly true among those renting farms, who took the attitude that it 

 was not worth while to make any effort, or that, perhaps, the grass- 

 hoppers would not be so bad another year, or, they were leaving to 

 go to, what seemed to them, more promising fields, or they doubted 

 the efficacy of the treatment advised, or they thought, some at least, 

 that the state should bear all expense in treating individual farms. 

 We found some criticism and lack of sympathy on the part of real 

 estate dealers, who felt that their business interests were being inter- 

 fered with by what looked to them like undesirable advertising. In 

 one case, reported upon by Mr. Somes, where a hopperdozer with 

 its victims was displaj^ed in a public street, to show the efficacy of this 



