INJURIOUS INSECTS OF 1903. 27 



will compel the property owners to plow stubble land so infested with 

 grasshopper eggs as to be declared a menace to surrounding crops. 



A bill leading to such a law was carefully framed by a prominent St. 

 Paul lawyer this last winter, declared constitutional by the attorney gen- 

 eral of the state and passed both houses without apparent opposition. 

 Every point of the law was carefully considered by its framer, and no 

 question exists as to enforcing its provisions. Space cannot be given 

 in a bulletin of this nature to print the law in full; it will be published, 

 however, in the next annual report. 



Complaint of infested land should be made to the State Entomol- 

 ogist or to the Board of County Commissioners, or both, accompanied 

 by specimens of eggs. The Entomologist examines the land, and, if the 

 conditions justify it, he reports to that effect to the Board of County 

 Commissioners, who, after consideration of the matter at a regular or 

 special meeting, cause a notice to be served upon the holder or lessee 

 of the infested land, requesting him to plow within a certain time. If 

 he fails to do this, the county plows his land, and, if said plowing benefits 

 him in raising of crops immediately after, sues him to recover moneys 

 expended. 



Inasmuch as grasshopper eggs hatch, in ordinary seasons, early in 

 May, and since nearly three weeks must elapse, in accordance with this 

 law, from the time of making the complaint to the time when the order 

 to plow can be issued, it would seem best to make complaints in the 

 fall, after grasshoppers have finished laying. 



Mr. Ruggles, an assistant in this department, was in the field in 

 Polk county in latter part of April in response to a complaint from 

 that section, and found many eggs in some localities; hence, it is safe to 

 predict that people in that neighborhood will have some trouble from 

 grasshoppers this season. 



Eggs brought to St. Anthony Park from Polk county hatched May 

 226., in the laboratory, probably several days earlier than they would 

 have hatched if left in the field. 



It is with the hope that some of the suggestions made herein will be 

 timely and useful that this publication is issued as a press bulletin. 



A copy of this bulletin will be sent to any citizen requesting the 

 same. 



A few who have used the Criddle Mixture here report suc- 

 cess, others the contrary ; personally we have not given it suf- 

 ficient trial to speak of it from experience. We used it quite 

 late in the fall at the very end of the season, when the hoppers 

 were eating but little, and did not meet with any success. 

 From our observations and the experience of others it is evi- 

 dent it should be used when grasshoppers are young and most 

 voracious. It is claimed that the mixture is much more effect- 



