1910] Morse — Hopperdozer for Rough Grownd 79 
A HOPPERDOZER FOR ROUGH GROUND. 
By ALBERT P. Morsrt, WELLESLEY, Mass. 
During the last few years a large part of New England has been 
subjected to a series of extremely dry summer seasons. This climatic 
condition is favorable to the development of locusts or “ grasshoppers” 
in itself, and at the same time diminishes the ravages of fungous 
diseases which tend to hold them in check, and stunts the vegetation 
on which they feed. As a natural consequence several species have 
multiphed to such an injurious extent, at least locally in parts of Ver- 
mont, New Hampshire, and Maine, that it is wise to consider means 
of artificial control. 
Of the various methods of fighting grasshoppers which become 
locally injurious, two are of especial importance: 

viz., Ist, plowing 
of the breeding-grounds before they hatch (or immediately there- 
after), thereby burying and destroying them; and 2nd, destruction of 
the young before they have done much injury or are able to travel far. 
Where the breeding-grounds are not now known, or an extended 
watch cannot be kept at hatching-time and immediate action taken, 
the first method cannot be considered available for the coming season. 
Or again, the breeding-grounds may be of such a character that plow- 
ing of them is impracticable, either by reason of their stoniness, steepness, 
location, or the injury which would result from washing by rains. 
The second method of control — destruction of the young — may 
be effected under some circumstances by poisoning the vegetation in 
and near the hatching grounds, with arsenicals, or by the use of 
poisoned baits such as bran-mash or dried horse-droppings, both of 
which are attractive to the young “hoppers. The use of arsenicals in 
pastures, however, is impracticable, and it is probable that by far 
the larger part of the New England breeding-grounds are used for that 
purpose. Another very effective method of destroying the young is 
by the use of “hopperdozers,” long, flat, shallow pans containing 
kerosene or kerosene and water, which are drawn by horses over the 
infested fields and into which the young locusts leap and are destroyed. 
These, however, can be used effectively only on relatively level ground 
and have the disadvantage of imparting to the forage a flavor decidedly 
repugnant to stock. A hopperdozer to be of use in New England 
