114 JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY [Vol. 5 



grasshoppers, and vigorous action, when they first appear, even if it 

 interferes with other farm work, for we find that whatever plan we 

 follow as regards this pest, that they are much more easily handled, 

 as would be expected, when they are young, than when fchey have 

 developed their wings. 



Our field workers reported only partial success with poison baits, 

 represented by poison bran mash and Criddle mixture, but have, in 

 the course of their work, hit upon a rather unique poison, which they 

 have courteously called the "Minnesota mixture." Finding that 

 arsenite of soda used as a spray, and combined with a little molasses, 

 was very effective against grasshoppers, they substituted this for the 

 Paris green used in making the Criddle mixture. They used the 

 following formula: 



Sodium arsenite 1 pound; horse manure 120 to 150 pounds; cheap 

 molasses 1 pint. The arsenite of soda was dissolved in the water 

 then added to the manure, stirring it well. 



This is cheaper than the Criddle mixture and can be used in the 

 same way. It forms a very attractive bait for grasshoppers. It was 

 tested upon poultry to see whether these animals, in picking grain 

 from such material, would be injured. Two roosters were fed upon 

 it for some time with no bad results. Incidentally, it may be said that 

 flies are attracted to this mixture in enormous quantities, and are 

 killed by the hundreds in feeding upon it. After this mixture had 

 been exposed for a day in the experiment with the roosters over a 

 quart of dead flies was found on the floor of the shed containing the 

 poultry. This observation might be of value to those who are making 

 a fight against the house fly, and it has been suggested that spraying 

 piles of horse manure exposed in barns and livery stables with a solu- 

 tion of eight ounces of sodium arsenite in about twenty gallons of 

 water, to which has been added about a half pint of molasses, would 

 be a useful measure against the house fly. 



Our most prominent work has been done with a poison spray. Aware 

 of the success of arsenite of soda used as a spray in South Africa, I 

 determined to try it in Minnesota, thinking its use might be applicable 

 to large tracts in the Red River Valley which call for treatment. With- 

 out going into the details of our experiments in this line, both on a 

 small scale and over large areas, I wish to say that we have been more 

 than pleased with the results, and firmly believe that if made properly 

 and used in the right way, it is our most efficacious means of keeping 

 down the numbers of these pests, which will always be more or less 

 troublesome in the newer, less cultivated districts. We found that 

 3 pounds of commercial arsenite of soda; 1 I gallons of molasses, 

 in 180 gallons of water, made a mixture which was fatal to hoppers 



