Proceedings, 1921. 



with a coating of coal-oil on the top. A movable frame forming partitions 

 in the pan will greatly aid in keeping the liquid from slopping over too 

 much. With machines of this sort catches of 8 to 10 bushels of hoppers 

 have been collected in less than three hours. When the hoppers are too 

 thick in the pan they may be removed with a tin scoop with holes in it, 

 which will remove the hoppers and allow the water to drain back into the 

 pan. From time to time the pan will want replenishing with water and 

 oil. As this machine is drawn up and down the fields, the hoppers, jumping 

 to avoid it, strike the backstop and fall into the water and oil, and those 

 that succeed in jumping out again die, as the oil on their bodies is apparently 

 fatal to them." 



Hoppcr-catclicr. — The most successful machine is the hopper-catching 

 machine, which catches the hoppers alive, and has the advantage that it can 

 be used on steep hillsides and rough ground where a hopperdozer with its 

 pan of water and oil would be impossible, and the hoppers when caught 

 form excellent chicken-food. It is not so easily made as the hopperdozer, 

 but once made is far more economical to use. A description of this machine, 

 which is given below, is taken from Bull No. 138 of the Utah Experimental 

 Station, by E. D. Ball, 1915. 



'■ This machine can be run over hay and grain crops, sugar-beets and 

 potatoes ; in fact, over practically everything except corn and ripening 

 grain. The principle of the machine is very simple — a box about 2 feet 

 square and 16 feet long on runners, a 2^foot by 4-inch extending out 4 

 feet at each end, to which a horse is attached. The horses then travel 24 

 feet apart, driving the grasshoppers in until most of them are in front of 

 the 16-foot machine. A rope fastened to the hame on the inside of each 

 horse and dragged just in front of the machine causes the hoppers to jump 

 just as the machine gets to them. The front of the machine is made of 

 tin and is about 2^^ feet high and slightly curved. This front does not 

 extend quite down to the bottom, and about 2 inches in front of it and about 

 4 inches high there is a false front, a second piece of tin, which curves 

 back down and into the box. A grasshopper hitting the tin cannot get a 

 foothold and is perfectly helpless and slides down between the two pieces 

 of tin, strikes the curve, and is thrown well back into the box, far enough 

 so that he cannot see the opening through which he entered. The top 

 and back of the box are made of wire mosquito-netting and the hopper 

 immediately jumps towards the light and clings to the netting, never seeking 

 the hole through which he came in. Several bushels can be gathered in 

 this way before they will shake down into the bottom sufficiently to choke 

 up the front opening. As soon as this happens the front opening should 

 be closed with gunny-sacks or similar material, and the hoppers can be 

 shovelled out into sacks and used to feed chickens or dumped into a trench 

 and buried. The material will cost between $8 and $9 and any one with a 

 saw and hammer can make one in a very short time. The runners should 

 be spaced to fit sugar-beet or potato-rows, if the machine is to be used on 

 these crops. A machine if protected will last for years, and as it takes 24 



