23 



well as in Manitoba to the north of the international boundary ; Mela- 

 noplus differentialia is the one that must receive nuicli of the bhune for 

 Kansas and Nebraska injury, while in the States of Indiana and Ohio 

 femur-rubrum and birittatus are the ffuiity parties. Melanoplm atlanis 

 is present in injurious numbers in the Red River Valley along with 

 bivittatus, spretun, and the Gammda pellucida. In Colorado and New 

 Mexico for the first time DissoHteira longipennis has appeared as one of 

 the injurious species of the country. 



While all of these locusts, along with most every other species of the 

 grouj) which are native to North America, are to be counted as injuri- 

 ous, the particular one that has been the dread of the whole couatry, 

 and especially of the region lying between the Mississippi River and 

 the Rocky Mountains, is the Migratory species — Melanoplm spretus. 

 This insect is now on the increase in a limited area on our northern 

 boundary and across the line in the province of Manitoba. By contin- 

 uing the prompt and energetic efforts that are being carried out b^^ the 

 populace and State authorities of the States of Minnesota and North 

 Dakota we can be assured of success only j>rovided the Canadian gov- 

 ernment will also see the advantage of cooperation at this time. This, 

 let me state, is all the more necessary at this particular time, as all re- 

 ports seem to indicate that at present this locust is not present in ab- 

 normal numbers in any other part of the entire country. A stamping 

 out of the pest in this region might, therefore, forever give immunity 

 from their further injury. 



Finally, let me urge on the inhabitants of all infested regions that 

 "a stitch in time saves nine." In other words, we do not know what 

 the climatic conditions may be a year hence — whether they will be such 

 as to favor the hoppers or not — so we should do the wise thing and 

 stamp out the pest. This has been done time and again in the past, 

 and the recent work in the North shows how very profitable is the war- 

 fare when carried on persistently. By the plowing under of the eggs 

 laid last fall, and the use of the kerosene pans or hopper dozers in the 

 destruction of the young locusts that did hatch, the twelve counties in 

 the two States of Minnesota and North Dakota saved, by actual com- 

 putation, on wheat alone, the sum of $400,000. This, mind you, was in 

 a year not considered a locust year, and does not take into consideration 

 what was saved to the region in other crops and the injury that might 

 have resulted next year had the hoppers not been destroyed. With 

 every favoring circumstance, the comparatively few locusts of this one 

 species that have thus far been destroyed the present year in this region 

 would have been sufficient to overrun, at least calculation, the entire 

 area of the State of Minnesota, the two Dakotas and Nebraska, along 

 with portions of Iowa and Kansas, True, these favoring circumstances 

 might never occur, but it is always best to be on the safe side. This 

 we should know from our past experiences with this same insect. 



"Native" locusts, while perhaps not to be dreaded equally as much 



