26 INJURIOUS INSECTS OF 1903. 



OTHER METHODS OF KILLING GRASSHOPPERS. 



Hopper-Dozers. Although the Entomologist can furnish oil in lim- 

 ited quantities during the coming summer to farmers who own hopper- 

 dozers, and there is no doubt but that they are useful in emergencies, 

 I am convinced, from work done with dozers last year in Polk county, 

 that the use of the Criddle Mixture will supersede the hopper-dozer, 

 because of the cheapness of the method and ease with which the poison 

 can be prepared and distributed. 



The method to be followed in securing the oil is as follows: Obtain 

 from your county commissioner an order for oil upon some dealer in 

 your neighborhood. Orders in blank form were issued from this ofifice 

 to the commissioners a year ago. Upon presentation of this order at 

 the store, oil will be furnished you, the dealer keeping your receipt and 

 the order to serve as a voucher when he sends his bill to the Ento- 

 mologist. All bills for oil must be presented before December ist of 

 the year in which the oil is sold. Firms furnishing oil free to farmers 

 without a signed order from a county commissioner do so at their own 

 risk. Hopper-dozers can be used to best advantage when the day is 

 bright and warm. A little water placed in the hopper-dozer with the 

 oil does not impair its value as an insecticide and will enable it to go 

 farther. When grasshoppers have obtained their wings the hopper- 

 dozer is almost useless. 



Sowing a strip of rye around the edge of a wheat field is claimed to 

 be a simple. way to keep grasshoppers at the edge of the field. The rye 

 grows more rapidly than the wheat, and will stand a lot of "eating 

 down." This keeps the locusts in a comparatively narrow area, where 

 they can be easily handled. (From Canadian Report.) 



Plowing a strip of land between a crop and an advancing army of 

 quite young hoppers- will sometimes turn their march and prevent loss. 



To prevent crickets and grasshoppers from eating binder twine in 

 the field: Soak balls of twine in solution of two pounds bluestone dis- 

 solved in 12 gallons of water, for half an hour, and then dry thoroughly. 

 (H. Vane, in Canadian Report.) 



It must be remembered that it is hard to dissolve bluestone; it 

 should, therefore, be placed in the water quite a long time before the 

 liquid is to be used. 



A farmer here suggests soaking balls of twine in kerosene. This 

 might be effective. 



THE NEW GRASSHOPPER LAW. 



It is manifestly discouraging to any farmer living in a grasshopper 

 district to have locusts, hatched in neighboring neglected stubble owned 

 by speculators or parties who are indifferent to community interests, 

 pour in upon his well-tilled fields and destroy in a few days the result 

 of many weeks of hard work. Some law has long been sought which 



