38 THE RICE GRASSHOPPER 



A second trial was made in June, 1909, just after the 

 hoppers had begun to emerge in numbers. The bags 

 worked this time very well and about a seer (one pint) of 

 grasshoppers was caught in each sweep over one hundred 

 yards of bund. The attachment of a frame to the bag was 

 found more of a hindrance than a help on the bunds, which 

 are frequently very uneven. The jumping power of the 

 hoppers, at this stage of their development, is very limited 

 and it was found that the mouth of the bag could be 

 reduced to one foot in height without diminishing the 

 effectiveness. 



While many of the raiyats appreciated the usefulness 

 of this method of combating the pest, the usual lack 

 of co-operation rendered the few spasmodic attempts 

 made by individuals abortive. In the combating of per- 

 haps no other class of insect pest is the necessity of 

 co-operation so pronounced as it is in the case of grass- 

 hoppers. With their great powers of movement, they are 

 able quickly to change their feeding grounds. The result 

 is, that if one raiyat succeeds in practically clearing his 

 land of the hoppers, they are quite certain to invade his 

 fields again from the surrounding areas, unless his neigh- 

 bours have co-operated with him and have cleared their 

 land at the same time. Individual effort is, thus, almost 

 certainly doomed to failure, where co-operation might have 

 been successful. 



As it seemed hopeless to expect the raiyats to 

 co-operate on their own initiative, it was decided, in 1910, 

 to conduct a campaign, in several of the worst-affected 

 villages, under the direct supervision of the Department. 

 The help of the Amildar and other local authorities was 

 solicited and obtained for the purpose. The whole of the 

 paddy areas of six villages, Anavatti Nerlige, Mallapur, 

 Yitlapur, Kubatur and Hoshalli, forming a block of about 

 nine square miles in extent, was selected and the patels of 

 these villages were made responsible for the supply of the 

 men required for bagging. As full a record as possible 

 was kept of the area covered per day and the number of 

 hoppers collected. 



The infestation in all these villages was much less 

 severe than in 1909, probably on account of the heavy 

 rains during the period of emergence of the hoppers. The 

 worst infested areas were the fields of Anavatti, Kubatur 



