i;i; 



Fin. 3S. Tlie Bird tlrasslioijper (ScliistoaTca americana). SUkIuIn' eularse'l. 



It is not exa,ii-,ueratiii,ii to say that dead locusts could he iiatliercd up in 

 wagon-loads, and at times he smelt a half-mile." 



The ordinary method of making and using the hopper-dozer is thus 

 given in th(> Third [Report of the State Entomologist of Minnesota, that 

 for 1897: 



"A sheet of oi'dinary sheet-iron, such as is used for making stove- 

 pipes, is turiKMl u]) one and a half inches around tlie edges and riveted at 

 the corners. This ni;ikes a shallow pan ahout eight feet long, two feet 



hroad, and 

 one and one- 

 half inches 

 deep. To the 

 1) o 1 1 o ni of 

 this a r e 

 riveted six 

 small strips 

 which can he 

 fastened t o 



the three runners on which the ])an rests. To the rear side of the pan 

 is screwed a light wooden frame, as long as the pan and one and one 

 half feet high. Over this frame a piece of canvas is stretclied. This 

 frame serves the important office of throwing hack all those locusts 

 that otherwise jump clear over the pan, and to tlu-ow theui into the oil. 

 The runners on which the pan rests are usually made fioni saplings 

 or small pieces of hoards having an upwartl curve in front to prevent 

 them from catching in the ground. The front ends of the runners are 

 all fastened by screws to a cross-piece, which is, in tui-n, drawn hy two 

 ropes, one at each end. These ropes are joined in front and fastened 

 to a singletree. Sometimes two hopper-dozers are fastened to a long 

 pole hy means of short ropes; this is very easily drawn l)y one horse. 

 Just in front of the \yM\ is fastened a piece of ro])e \\hich sweeps the 

 ground a few inches in advance and serves to stii- up the hoppers and 

 make them juni[) into the ])ans. In the pan is laid a piece of cloth, 

 whicli is first thoroughly saturated with water. Ahout a pint of kero- 

 sene oil is then thrown in and tlie upright sheet oi- sail of can\-as is also 

 moistened with it. The machine is di'awn over tlu^ fields oi- wherever 

 the locusts are thickest. In a short lime it is usually partially (iIUnI 

 with dead or dying insects. 



" The slightest touch of kerosene oil, either from the jian or from the 

 canvas sheet behind it, means death to the ocust, for the oil spreads 

 over its body in the same way that a single drop of it will spread over a 

 large surface of water. ... A very large proj^ortion of the locusts 

 that come in contact with the oil in the i)an immediately jump out again, 

 hut the\- invai-iahlv die in the course of a few s(H'onds or niiiiule>.'" 



