MONTANA STATE BOARD OF HORTICULTURE 63 



study than we have in the case of insects which do not appear in 

 large numbers in the same locality every year. Farmers have been 

 able to work out methods of handling their crops which enable them 

 to prevent weevil damage or produce their necessary forage in spite 

 of it. In co-operation with entomologists, they have also devised 

 ways of destroying the weevils, such as pasturing, brush-dragging, 

 and spraying their fields, all of which methods are successful under 

 the right conditions and some one of which can be used under almost 

 any circumstances. 



The unusual chance for study which the constant abundance of 

 this insect gives us, has also been utilized to learn how it travels and 

 how its spread may be delayed, if not prevented. It is known to be 

 carried in fresh-cut alfalfa, alfalfa hay, farm produce which has been 

 handled in contact with those commodities and then shipped in tight 

 cars, and in clothing which has been worn through infested fields. 

 Weevils' have often been found alighting on railroad trains in the 

 infested region, but there is no evidence and little likelihood that they 

 are carried far in this way. The spread of the weevil seems, from 

 a study of the territory over which it has gone from its original colony 

 at Salt Lake City, to have been principally by flight from field to 

 field or to the wild plants of the alfalfa family, which are everywhere 

 present along roads and in the native prairie. Its spread is prac- 

 tically continuous as far as' Sugar City, Idaho ; Granger, Wyoming ; 

 Price, Black Rock, Skull Valley and Rosette, Utah, but colonies at 

 Paonio, Colorado, and New Plymouth, Idaho, are separated by long 

 distances from the nearest infested territory, and were doubtless 

 planted by railroad or wagon traffic. 



The entomologists and quarantine officers of the western states 

 have been vigilant in protecting their people by quarantines against 

 the introduction of the alfalfa weevil, and both because they must 

 expect eventually to be themselves quarantined against and because 

 they realize the hardships which are unavoidably caused by quaran- 

 tines, they have tried to obtain protection against the weevil with 

 the least possible disturbance of commerce. All hay and straw, 

 whether shipped as forage, bedding, or packing, and all produce 

 which has been in contact with alfalfa, are agreed upon as dangerous 

 when coming from weevil-infested territory. Household goods from 

 agricultural districts, fruits and vegetables are considered safe for 

 admittance to Montana if inspected to insure that they have been 



