MONTANA STATE BOARD OF HORTICULTURE 83 



feeding within 24 hours after taking the bait, but may crawl about for 

 three or four days before dying. Hoppers that have eaten the poison 

 seek dampness and shade, conditions which are shunned by normal 

 grasshoppers and in such places they are often found covering the 

 ground in piles. They also crawl into cracks in the ground and those 

 that die on the surface are carried away by birds, animals, and other 

 insects. The effectiveness of the treatment should, therefore, be 

 judged more by the number of grasshoppers left in the field than 

 by the number of dead grasshoppers found on the surface of the 

 ground. 



Grasshopper Catching Machines 



Large quantities of grasshoppers can frequently be caught in 

 machines or traps which are drawn over infested areas. The most suc- 

 cessful trap used consists of a rectangular wooden box mounted on 

 runners and bearing in front a curved tin shield. As the machine is 

 drawn over the field the grasshoppers jump against the shield and 

 are deflected downward. At the bottom of the shield is a projecting 

 lip upon which the falling grasshoppers strike and which def lexes them 

 through a small opening into the box. 



Working plans and full directions for the making of such a ma- 

 chine can be secured by writing to the Montana Experiment Station. 

 The cost of construction will be somewhere between $15 and $20. 



The grasshopper catching machine can be used in low growing 

 crops, such as alfalfa, grasses, flax and young grain, but is somewhat 

 injurious to ripening grain, corn and seed alfalfa in which the pods 

 are well developed. It is at its best in crops that are from 12 to 18 

 inches in height and works but poorly in prairie sod where there is* 

 little vegetation for the hoppers to rest on. 



After several bushels of grasshoppers have collected in the ma- 

 chine, the cover of the box is raised and the contents are shoveled or 

 scooped into burlap sacks. After remaining in the sacks for about a 

 day the grasshoppers will be dead and can then be spread out and 

 dried for chicken feed. Such feed is very high in protein content and 

 has been very successfully used by a number of Montana farmers as 

 a winter feed in place of meat scrap. 



Advantages of the Catching Machine Method of Control 



The cost of building a catching machine is about the same as the 

 cost of treating 50 acres with poison bran mash. The cost of the first 



