GRASSHOPPERS AND OTHER INJURIOUS INSECTS OF 1911 AND 1912. 



93 



During the winter the best vehicle for carrying the poison it 

 is claimed in the government bulletin referred to, is Alfalfa hay. It 

 was advantageously used in a mouse plague in Nevada up to the 

 time green food appeared in the spring. The formula recommended 

 is as follows: Good green alfalfa hay chopped into two inch 

 lenghts, 30 lbs. ; sulphate of strych- 

 nia, 1 oz. ; and water five or six gal- 

 lons or as much as the hay will ab- 

 sorb. Dissolve the strychnine as rec- 

 ommended above. Place 30 lbs. of 

 chopped hay in a large metal recep- 

 tacle and first sprinkle it with three 

 gallons of fresh water, thoroughly 

 mixing it. Then sprinkle the poison 

 over this dampened hay and thor- 

 oughly mix it. The hay can then be 

 sacked and is ready for immediate 

 use. It cannot well be kept for sev- 

 eral days but should be used while 

 fresh. This can be distributed by 

 hand, near mice burrows ar along 

 surface trails. In cold weather drop 

 into the underground burrow. Stock 

 should be keut out of fields for several 

 days after treatment until rain and 

 weathering makes this bait harmless. 



While green alfalfa, prepared in 

 practically the same way as the hay, 

 was used with considerable success in 

 the Nevada mouse plague by Govern- 

 ment workers, even in the spring 

 when green food was abundant, it 

 calls for greater care in distribution, quickly withers, and does not 

 particularly commend itself to the writer as being equal to the other 

 two baits described. 



Strychnine, of course, is a deadly poison, and the greatest care 

 should be observed to prevent accidents both with the sulphate 

 itself, with the solution and with the utensils used, and with the 

 bait itself. The sulphate costs wholesale, in the neighborhood of 75 

 cents per oz., and being more soluble in water than any other form 

 of strychnine should always be used. Farmers interested in com- 



j._::xj 



Pig. 65. Apple tree, protected by wire 

 screen. Ohio Exp. Station. 



