REPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 301 



About a teaspoonful of this mash is placed at the root of each tree, 

 shrub, or plant infested with locusts, dropping it in the shade when this 

 can be done. In the case of low shrubs or plants nothing more need be 

 done, as the locusts will find their way to the poison, but when large 

 trees are treated the locusts should be jarred out of tliem, or be driven 

 out with long x)oles. 



I have known locusts to be killed by eating some of this mash that 

 had been put out over a week previously. The poison works very slowly, 

 and when put out early in the morning will show but little effect upon 

 the locusts until quite late in the day. A Devastating Locust that I 

 saw eating the mash at 9 o'clock in the forenoon was still alive at G in 

 the evening, but was dead when next examined early the next morning. 



Allowing a teaspoonful of this mash to each grape- vine in the vine- 

 yard — the vines being 7 or 8 feet apart — this will require about 10 

 pounds of the dry bran (and arsenic and sugar in proportion) to each 

 acre. The cost of the material will vary, but should not exceed 50 cents 

 for each acre of grape-vines, including cost of labor for mixing and ap- 

 plying it. For orchards the cost will be much less than this. 



The addition of sugar to this mash is merely for the purpose of caus- 

 ing the arsenic to adhere to the particles of bran, and not for the pur- 

 pose of increasing its attractiveness, since bran is more attractive to the 

 locusts than sugar. This I have demonstrated to my own satisfaction. 

 A quantity' of sugar was placed upon the ground contiguous to an equal 

 quantity of bran mash ; when a locust came to the sugar he would eat a 

 little of it, move on a short distance and again take a few bites of the 

 sugar, and continue in this manner until he reached the mash, when he 

 would settle down, eat his fill, and then move off. The locusts which 

 came to the mash before reaching the sugar would, almost without ex- 

 ception, eat their fill of the mash and then walk away, but occasionally 

 one would leave the mash and take a few bites of the sugar, only to re- 

 turn to the mash again. None of them ate their fill of the sugar, but 

 always manifested an evident preference for the mash. 



This mash was used upon about 300 acres of orchard and vineyard on 

 the Buhach plantation, and about two weeks later scarcely a living 

 locust was to be seen where they could have been counted by the hun- 

 dred or even thousands before the poison had been applied, the ground 

 in many places being literally covered with the dead bodies of the slain. 



Several other parties also used this poisonous mash, and so far as I 

 was able to learn, it gave entire satisfaction in every instance. 



B3' exercising only ordinary precautions there need be no fear of en- 

 dangering the lives of either man or any of the domestic animals in using 

 this poisonous preparation. It should be mixed in a close room to pre- 

 vent the arsenic from being blown about by the wind. There is no need 

 of touching the arsenic or the mixture with the hands, as the mixing 

 and distributing is accomplished by means of spades, shovels, wooden 

 paddles, &c. 



Of course this mixture should not bo put out in places where poultry 

 or any of the domestic animals can gain access to it. tlpon the Buhach 

 plantation were four greyhounds and several cats that were allowed to 

 roam about the plantation where this mixture had been put out for the 

 locusts ; still at the time that I left the plantation — about four weeks 

 after the poisonous mixture had been put out — not one of them had 

 been killed either by eating of the mixture itself, or of the locusts that 

 had been poisoned by it. 



There were also several barnyard fowls upon this plantation, but not 

 one of them was poisoned from having eaten locusts that may have 



