55 



only, but for the entire year, and give a premium for the destruction 

 of rapacious birds. Let an officer be appointed, if necessary, in each 

 district, composed of four or five counties, whose duty it shall be to 

 see that the laws are enforced, and who shall also experiment in in- 

 troducing and multiplying the English sparrow or other insect-eating 

 birds of similar habits. It would be well for the state and county 

 agricultural societies to encourage the increase of domestic fowls so 

 far as possible. Hogs should be raised, as they are not only fond of 

 these insects and army worms, but would soon learn to hunt for the 

 egg sacks, as they do for acorns in an oak forest. 



Driving into traps and ditching are remedies which have been long 

 practiced. Scott, in his " Excursions into Ronda Granada," as quoted 

 by Kirby, says : " During our ride from Cordova to Seville, we 

 observed a number of men advancing in skirmishing order across the 

 country, and thrashing the ground most savagely with long flails. 

 Curious to know what might be the motive for this Xerxes-like treat- 

 ment of the earth, we turned out of the road to inspect their opera- 

 tions. We found they were driving a swarm of locusts into a wide 

 piece of linen spread on the ground some distance before them, 

 wherein they are made prisoners." Kirby adds in a note : " The 

 same plan is adopted for the destruction of these insects in some parts 

 of the United States — deep trenches being dug at the end of the fields, 

 into which the grasshoppers are driven with branches, and then des- 

 troyed by throwing earth upon them." What has been beneficial 

 heretofore may be so again, and because it is old is no reason for 

 rejecting it for something new until the former has been thoroughly 

 tried. 



But without discussing further the various methods of defense 

 against the young which experience and ingenuity, together with 

 some knowledge of the insect, may devise, I must sum up the matter 

 and close this article, which has already extended to too great a 

 length. 



1. It is impossible to tell what may be done toward preventing 

 their incursions into the border states until their history has been 

 more thoroughly traced. This can only be done through the general 

 government, and with the aid of the military posts and stations. 



2. While it would be folly to undertake to exterminate them in 

 their native haunts by destroying the eggs or the insects, yet, if it be 

 possible to induce the Indians by rewards to collect eggs and young 

 along the west side of the plains, it would be wise to do so, and would 

 as a matter of course, do something towards diminishing them. 



3. When the investigation shows the usual hatching region and 

 line of travel, signal stations connected by telegraph lines with the 

 sections subject to invasions, may do much good by giving warning 

 of the coming locust storm. 



4. It would be wise for the people of Kansas and Nebraska to rely 

 more upon wheat and root crops, as the hordes usually come too late 

 to injure the former, and cannot so greatly injure the latter as other 

 crops. But for the season after the incursion, when the young are 

 expected to hatch, this order will have to be somewhat reversed. This 

 branch of the subject, I think, has not received the attention of the 

 farmers of Kansas and Nebraska which it deserves. 



