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''Criddle-mixture." The females lay their eggs in the fall in packets, 

 covered with a mucilaginous secretion, placed below the surface of the 

 ground. Usually dry, upland pastures and fields are chosen. In the spring 

 the eggs hatch into tiny, wingless hoppers which spread over the grass 

 fields of the neighborhood. They eat voraciously, increasing in size at 

 each moult, and gradually assume the form of the adult. 



Grasshoppers are preyed upon by many enemies ; birds particularly do 

 fine service in keeping them in check, and should therefore be protected. 

 During August grasshoppers form the staple diet of very many of our 

 larger land birds. 



Methods of Control. — If fall ploughing is otherwise desirable, it may 

 be depended upon to reduce the number of the pests, but under most con- 

 ditions is not very effective. The most effective method of control in grass 

 fields is by use of a hopper-dozer. 



Hopper-catcher or hopper-dozer. — These machines are of many kinds 

 and have been used with great success in the West. The construction of 

 two of the more simple will be outlined here. 



"A good and cheap pan is made of ordinary sheet-iron 8 feet long, 11 

 inches wide at the bottom and turned up a foot high at the back and an 

 inch wide at the front. A runner at each end, extending some distance 

 behind, and a cord attached to each front corner, complete the pan, at a 

 cost of about $1.50. We have known from 7 to 10 tushels of young locusts 

 caught with such a pan in an afternoon. It is easily pulled by two boys, 

 and by putting several together in a row, one boy to each outer rope, and 

 one to each contiguous pair, the best work is performed with the least 

 labor. Longer pans to be drawn by horses should have transverse partitions 

 to avoid spilling the liquid, also more runners. The oil may be used alone 

 so as to j'dst cover the bottom, or on the surface of water, and the insects 

 strained through a wire ladle. Small pans for oil, attached to an obliquing 

 pole or handle do excellent service in gardens." (Riley). This machine 

 can be made of wood, and tar or "tree-tanglefoot" can be used instead of 

 the coal oil recommended. The tar or tanglefoot should be coated on the 

 upper surface of the baseboard and the front of the upright which may be 

 a frame covered with cloth ; a fresh coating should be given as often as the 

 hoppers completely cover the surface. Finally, the whole is shovelled off 

 and burned. For use in rocky fields the machine can be raised on higher 

 runners or on small wheels. Another form was described in the ''Kansas 

 Farmer" years ago: — "I had rivetted together two sheets of stove-pipe 

 iron, each 2 by 7 feet, making a surface of 4 by 7 feet. I rolled up 

 the back side about 18 inches high, and held it to its place by nailing 



