52 



alfalfa and orchard had occurred I could learn of no loss. Galoptenus 

 differentialis I found in some numbers, and there is little doubt that 

 unless some effort is made this fall and next spring to destroy eggs and 

 young they will multiply as in other localities, and probably by next 

 season prove as destructive as in them. 



As this point carried me into the westernmost row of counties in the 

 State, and there was no report of damage farther on, I determined to 

 cross northward to the Missouri Pacific Eoad, in order to follow up some 

 rumors regarding damage from grasshoppers at some j^oints intervening, 

 and which, from the descriptions given, seemed possibly to be due to 

 Bissosteira longipennis. No point where serious loss occurred was found, 

 however, and this species occurred but sparingly at points between 

 Sj'racuse and Tribune, and occurred at Horace only in small numbers, 

 too few to cause any apprehension for the immediate future at least. 

 Taking the Missouri Pacific, I passed through to Kansas City without 

 finding any evidence of damage from grasshoppers, and as I could learn 

 of no other localities in the State than in the three counties examined 

 where such damage was reported, I returned to Ames, and will now pro- 

 ceed to a detailed account of the territory examined, the species ob- 

 served, and the special measures needed to meet the outbreak in this 

 section. 



THE TERRITORY AFFECTED. 



The damaged territory is quite easily defined and might very prop- 

 erly be said to coincide with the irrigated portion of the Arkansas 

 Valley lying in Finney, Kearney, and Hamilton Counties in southwest 

 Kansas. The entire irrigated district, however, is not equally injured 

 and there are some fields much less damaged than others. The whole 

 area covered extends with occasional breaks a distance of about fifty 

 miles along the river and forms a strip from one to five miles wide but 

 limited entirely to areas where irrigation has been practiced, and within 

 this limit is dependent upon the kind of crops raised. 



The greater damage was observed at Garden City, though nearly as 

 bad was seen at Lakin, and but little was found at Syracuse, corre- 

 sponding as near as I could learn pretty closely with the length of 

 time since alfalfa has been made a principal crop on the irrigated 

 lands. 



THE CROPS AFFECTED. 



Alfalfa is the crop in which there is the most loss, but orchards are 

 suffering badly, and were they extensive throughout the district would 

 very probably present the heavier loss. 



The alfalfa crop is a very i)rofitable one and easily grown with irriga- 

 tion and has been very extensively planted, the fields devoted to it 

 covering many thousands of acres. 



The injury to this crop is of such a nature that 1 believe practical 

 remedies may be adopted, aud, as will be stated later, active measures 

 should be adopted this fall aud next spring. 



