57 



to it rounded inch boards. I turned up the front a trifle, and nailed 

 to it a narrow strip of siding to stiffen the machine under the bot- 

 tom, well back, so that it would balance. I fixed a three-eighths round 

 iron for an axle, and fastened it by driving a staple over it near the 

 ends and into the board end pieces. The wheels should be 16 inches 

 in diameter, made of inch boards, three thicknesses nailed together, 

 so that the grain of the wood will cross. I push my machine with 

 a handle made of half-inch iron, a piece 12 feet long, the ends flattened, 



V. S. Dept. Eut., Bui. 25. A Hopper-catcher. 



and fastened to the end board with screws, the rod bent up and made the 

 proper shape, so as to come about to the bottom of a man's vest when 

 operating the "dozer." I cover the surface with tar (common), which will 

 bum and is poison to the hopper. The machine tilts over the axle and can 

 be made to scrape the ground or raised to pass over grain or obstructions. 

 The ''dozer" is a perfect success, gathers the hoppers almost as clean as a 

 reaper will cut grain ; none get away. One week 's work and 4 gallons of 

 pitch tar will clean the worst hoppered 160-acre farm in Minnesota. At one 

 priming with tar yesterday my man caught in about an hour a half bushel, 

 estimated to make ten bushels when grown." 



The machine is used with advantage early in the summer while the 

 hoppers are small and wingless. It is drawn across the field from side to 

 side in swathes, gradually covering the field. If the work is done on a fine 

 day when the hoppers jump readily, and started from the windward end of 

 the field, the vast majority of the hoppers can be destroyed. The fields can 

 be swept with advantage several times at intervals of a few days. Re- 

 infestation from surrounding fields is not likely to be serious, for the 

 hoppers are then wingless and are already in good feeding grounds. 



Few people realize the loss caused by these pests, feeding as they do 

 upon the grass throughout the season. Even though not particularly 

 evident, they are always present in the grass fields in countless numbers. I 



