30 



the little meadow grasshoppers are found just hatched and under 

 such conditions that they could not possibly have come on from the 

 outside. 



Remedial measures. — The only way to keep these species off the bogs 

 is to keep down the grasses. They are not natural!}^ feeders upon the 

 cranberry plant, and exact so small a toll that the actual loss is less 

 than the probable cost of getting rid of them. If the grasses, etc., 

 can not be readil}^ taken from the bogs, they might be mowed, after 

 picking, above the vine level. This would cut off the parts bearing 

 the eggs, and as the loose grass would float when the water is put on, 

 the eggs would either be carried to the edges or would decay with the 

 vegetation containing them. 



Crickets also occur in greater or less numbers on most bogs, and 

 growers are by no means agreed whether they cause injury or not. 

 That they will eat berries on the ground, especially under cranberry 

 crates, is certain; but it is not proved that they ever go upon a vine 

 to feed upon a berry attached to it. The species lay their eggs in 

 sandy soil, and never in wet or mud land; so, as a matter of fact, no 

 field crickets can really propagate on the bogs. But they get into the 

 dams, and oviposit in warm sandy places, so that the j'oung may hatch 

 earl}^ in the spring and find their way to the moist, warm places in 

 which they delight. Their range of food seems to be wide, and there 

 is almost nothing they will not eat under favorable conditions; but 

 they live on the ground and rarely get out of the shelter of the vines 

 or upon them. 



If it be deemed desirable the crickets can be kept off the bogs almost 

 entirely b}^ broad, clean, marginal ditches maintained at least partly 

 full of water. The crickets rarely if ever fly, and, while they are good 

 swimmers, do not ordinarily attempt to cross any ditch 6 feet wide. 



A flowing just after picking would destroy most of the grasshopper 

 and cricket tribe that then occur in their greatest number. 



THE IDEAL CRANBERRY BOG. 



So much has been said of bog conditions,. and bog conditions so 

 greatly influence the abundance of injurious species of insects, that it 

 may not be out of place to describe briefly what a bog should be to 

 make insect control easy and certain. 



(1) The bog should be as nearly level as it can be made, so as to 

 require the least possible amount of water to flow it. A bog that can 

 be completely covered by a 12-inch head is better than one that requires 

 24:, and when the difference in level of an area is 5 or 6 feet or more 

 it is better to make two bogs out of it, that the lower may be reflowed 

 from the upper and less than half the amount of water be required. 



