﻿126 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT 



latures of those States did not make some effort to avert future injury by offering a 

 liberal price per busliel for the eorgs A few thousand dollars taken out of the State 

 treasury for this purpose would be well spent and be distributed amon<? the very peo- 

 ple most in need of assistance. 



Destruction of the Unfledged Young. — As I have stated in the articles already alluded 

 to, heavy rolling, where the surface of the soil is sufficiently firm and even, tiestroys 

 the larger portion of them, but is most advantageously employed when the insects are 

 most sluggish. They drive almost as readily as sheep, and may be burned in large 

 quantities by being driven into windrows or piles of burning hay or straw. But the 

 experience of the present year convinces me that by far the most effectual way for man 

 to protect his crops and do battle to these young locust armies — especially where, as in 

 West Missouri, last Spring, there was no hay or straw to burn — is by ditching. A 

 ditch two feet wide and two feet deep, with perpendicular sides, offers an effectual bar- 

 rier to the younof insects. They tumble into it and accumulate, and die at the bottom 

 in large quantities. In a few days the stench becomes great and necessitates the cover- 

 ing up of the mass. In order to keep the main ditch open, therefore, it is best to dig 

 pits or deeper side ditches at short intervals, into which the hoppers will accumulate 

 and may be buried. We hear much talk about the powerlessness of man before this 

 mighty locust plague; but I am quite confident that here we have a remedy that is at 

 once thorough and effectual, whereby the people of some of the States, at least, may 

 avert in future such evil as that which befell them this Spring. There have been a 

 number of partial attempts at ditching by simply turning a couple of furrows with the 

 plow. Even these will often divert the encroaching insects from their course ; but 

 they can never be relied on, and you may rest assured that whenever you hear a man 

 ■declare that ditching is no protection, he refers to such slovenly, half-made ditches. 

 No instance has come to my knowledge where a ditch, such as 1 first described, has 

 failed to effectually keep off the insects. Made around a field about hatching time, few 

 hoppers will get into that field till they acquire wings, and by that time the principal 

 danger is over, and the insects are fast disappearing. If any should hatch within the 

 inclosure, they are easily driven into the ditches dug in different parts of the field. 



Just behind the fair-grounds at Kansas City there is an intelligent 

 and industrious gardener, Mr. F. D. Adkins, having about three acres 

 in vegetables. The locusts hatched in large nunibers all around Kan- 

 sas City, and nowhere more abundantly than in the immediate vicinity 

 of this truck-garden. Mr. Adkins, remembering his experience with 

 the same plague in 1867, persevered in ditching for their destruction in 

 1875 ; and though the surface of the country for miles and miles around 

 was desolate, yet this little three-acre field was untouched — a perfect 

 oasis in the desert, at once giving pleasure to the eye and speaking 

 eloquently of what may be accomplished by a little tact and perseve- 

 rance. Rush Bottom, in Jackson county, contains a large tract of land 

 in abend of the Missouri river, naturally protected on all sides but 

 one by the river, and Mr. Ragan relates that, taking advantage of this 

 circumstance, the inhabitants cut a ditch across the neck of land at 

 the foot of the bluif — cutting off the marching column of locusts from 

 the surrounding countr3\ They thereby saved their gardens and hun- 

 dreds of acres of corn and oats. 



Mr. S. D. Payne, of Kasota, Minn., says in the Report of the Min- 

 nesota Commission : " In my mind the most practical mode,not only 

 of protecting the crops but of destroying the plague, is the ditching 

 system. I have demonstrated to my own satisfaction that an indivi- 

 dual farmer can protect himself both against those bred on his farm 

 (by carefully noting the breeding-grounds and the consequent points 



