﻿OP THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 127 



of invasion) and those raiding from the neighboring country; and a 

 general concert of action by all the farmers will tend to vastly de- 

 crease the numbers, if not entirely remove those hatching here." 

 Numerous other instances of this kind might be given, and I have not 

 a doubt but that with proper and systematic ditching early in the sea- 

 son, when the insects first hatched, everything could have been saved 

 with comparatively little trouble. I have seen people driving off the 

 young locust day after day, in their endeavors to save some small 

 vegetable or flower garden — their efforts eventually in vain — where 

 one-tenth the time spent in ditching would have effectually accom- 

 plished the object. And when I should, perhaps, have been praying, 

 I have witnessed sights that prompted to thought and word the very 

 reverse of prayer. In a large portion of Johnson county the injury 

 was slight, and until the end of May little damage was done around 

 Warrensburg. Happening to be in the vicinity of this town on the 

 3d inst., I came upon a beautiful vineyard which had up to that time 

 escaped. The insects had got into it, and the owner was advised to 

 ditch to save it. His piety exceeded his good sense, however, and 

 instead of genuflecting on a spade he was performing the operation 

 in another way, while his beautiful vineyard was literally being gob- 

 bled up at a rate that would not show a green leaf by the morrow. 

 I respect every man's faith, but there are instances where I would 

 respect his work a good deal more. 



Where water can be let into the ditches so as to cover the bottom 

 they may be made shallower, and still be effective. Mr. Frank Hol- 

 singer, of Kansas City, under date of May 23rd, 1875, sent me the fol- 

 lowing account of his experience : 



Your very interesting communication to the St. Louis Globe was reproduced in 

 our Journal of Commerce of tlie 21st inst. I have no doubt but that your counsel will 

 toe heeded by many, but to the mass of our people it is as "sounding brass," etc. Dur- 

 ing the past four days I have been at work, and although 1 spent less than one-fourth 

 of my time to the purpose, I have destroyed between 30 and 40 bushels of wingless 

 locusts. My remedy is so simple I concluded to give it to you, as I think it better than 

 any I have yet seen, and had 1 known how easily it was to accomplish 1 would now see 

 growing crops where ruin and desolation appear. 



As they had entered ray wheat (1 took your advice and Fall-plowed everything, 

 and I do not think there was a hatful! hatched on my 40 acres) from neighboring farms, 

 and knowing that when they got through they must move in force on ray garden, 

 I cautioned my wile to inform nie when tdey commenced on this last. On the ISth 

 inst., at 11 A. M., she gave the watchword, " they come ;" so, leaving corn-plovying, I 

 hastened to surround our garden with a board fence, intending to drive ttie insects 

 around, but to no purpose, although the boards were placed at 45° outward, and sqme 

 six of us were at work. Still they came. We built straw lires next — still unsatisfac- 

 tory. I had been underdraining, and had some drains still open. Wife said, "you will 

 work yourself sick, and all to no purpose." i take a look, and a patch of early pota- 

 toes, one-third of an acre, which we had saved, was melting before them. 1 then saw 

 them march straight for the drain. My impulse then was to burn them in the drain. 

 This 1 found difficult. Tlie next thought was " pit-falls at intervals in the drain ;" I 

 commenced digging these, and the locusts tumbled in by thousands, but many escaped. 

 Now the thougtit occurred that if there was water in the pits they could not jump ; so 

 water was thrown in, and the result was a success. I feel certain that by a judicious 

 expenditure of $50, in ditching around my 35 acres, I could have saved everything, 

 while my loss is largely in excess of $1,000. 



