CHAP. XI. I ["HE CONTROL OF INSE( I PESTS OP CROPS. 



91 



The mouth of the bag is fitted at the sides (see figure 38) with two 

 short bamboo poles each four or five feet long, to keep the mouth 

 open an<l to form handles to hold the net with, and a piece ol 

 bamboo is also fastened into the lower edge of the mouth to keep 

 it straighl and so prevent it from sagging up oft" the ground. The 

 endofthe net is weighted with a lump of stone, brick or wood to 

 prevent it ballooning up and spilling the catch out of the mouth 

 when in use. The hag-net is worked by two men who each grasp 

 the bamboo handles and sweep it over the crop as quickly 



Bag-net in use. (Author's original pi ot 



as possible. The hoppers, being disturbed by the passage of the 

 net, jump oft' the plants and are swept into the net by the lower 

 edge of the bag before thej have time to reach the ground. The 

 grasshoppers, at the end of each run, are shaken down into the 

 bottom of the bag and killed by crushing or by emptying them 

 into a vessel of oil and water. For obtaining as large a catch as 

 possible the following precautions should be observed : (1) the net 

 must be swept as closely along the ground as possible. (2) the men 

 working it must run at a quick pace, and (3) as far as possible the 

 bag should be swept against the wind. 



A single bag-net will work over nearly three acres of ground 

 daily and will require tin- services of three men. two working it 

 and the third relieving the others by turns. Where a field is badly 

 infested by grasshoppers it will require to be gone over several 



