51 



beyond tlieui. Here 1 noticed a number of grasshoppers dead from the 

 attacks of parasitic Tachinn. 



From this field 1 went to another, owned by the same man, which was 

 also well filled with grasshoppers, but the injury here was less, espe- 

 cially around the buildings, where a large number of turkeys were doing 

 excellent ser\ ice in killing the hoppers and at the same time adding 

 rapidly to their own weight. 



In a field of sorghum directly adjoining there was also considerable 

 injury, but (liffercntialis seemt d scarce, while a bright green species, 

 Acridium frontalis Thos.y'^'Q.^ abundant and apparently the principal 

 agent of destruction. This species was also noticed here and in other 

 places occurring in great abundance on the wild sunflower so common 

 on these plains, and the ouestion arose whether this was not its natural 

 food plant and its attacks ^n sorghum incidental. 



The day following I spent the forenoon with Dr. Sabin, who kindly 

 furnished a horse and cart and accompanied me in examining a num- 

 ber of farms within five miles of Garden City, where alfalfa fields and 

 orchards were injured. I met and talked with a number of farmers who 

 had suffered from grasshopper depredations, and the information re- 

 ceived from them with what I gained by personal observation satisfied 

 me that losses could be avoided by proper measures. 



I learned that the same injuries extended farther west along the river 

 where alfalfa was grown, and I i)roceeded from Garden City to Lakin, 

 observing on the way that all alfalfa fields showed presence of grass-, 

 hoppers, but that in some cases the bloom was still free from serious 

 injury or destroyed only in patches. At Lakin 1 learned that injury 

 had been serious, especially on the place of Mr. Longstreth, some two 

 miles from town. Some fields near the river and occupying low land 

 were noticed in full bloom and showing little damage, but still grass- 

 hoppers could be found in abundance by closer inspection of the fields. 



Mr. Longstreth's son, being in town, drove me outtohis father's farm, 

 and accompanied me on a tour through his extensive orchard of ten acres, 

 his oat fields and alfalfa fields, in all of which the damage had been 

 serious. Many of the trees in the orchard were entirely stripped of 

 leaves, and in some cases the bark had been eaten from the limbs. The 

 alfalfa presented the same appearance as observed in other fields. I 

 found here a great many dead grasshoppers, whose emptj shells at- 

 tested the activity of Tachince. 



I was told by Mr. Longstreth that skunks were amongst the most 

 active enemies of the grasshoppers, and he believed played an imijortaut 

 part in reducing them. He had even seen one up in an apple tree catch- 

 ing hoppers on the limbs. 



I learned at Lakin that alfalfa was also grown in the next county 

 west, at Syracuse, and that damage was also reported there, but on 

 reaching the place found the injury slight as compared with the other 

 l)laces visited. In fact, aside from one farm on which some damage to 



