TWENTIETH REPOKT OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST 5 



THE GREAT FALLS CONFERENCE 



Following a consultation between Mr. Stewart Lockwood, of the 

 United States Bureau of Entomology at Billings, and the State Ento- 

 mologist at Bozeman, in July, 1923, a general conference was called to 

 take place at Great Falls on August 31st. Representatives of the 

 railroads, bankers, the State Department of Agriculture, farmers' 

 organizations, credit organizations, members of Congress, and ento- 

 mologists from neighboring states were invited to be present. Repre- 

 sentatives from the Canadian provinces to the north were also invited. 

 Practically all of these organizations, as well as others, were repre- 

 sented and in addition many individuals were present. A one-day 

 session was held at which reports were received of conditions in the 

 several states and the Canadian provinces, as well as in the various 

 parts of Montana. It developed that the situation centered in Mon- 

 tana and in the judgment of the entomologists present there was 

 much prospect that a very serious situation might develop during 1924. 

 The conference considered ways and means of meeting the situation. 

 Consideration was given to asking Congress to furnish relief. A com- 

 mittee, consisting of the Commissioner of Agriculture, Mr. C. C. Davis, 

 Mr. Stewart Lockwood, and the State Entomologist, was appointed 

 to take charge of the situation and secure relief if possible. 



After giving careful consideration to the facts which existed, it 

 was determined to be inadvisable to ask Congress to make appropria- 

 tions for the relief of the situation. The three members of the com- 

 mittee cooperated to canvass the State to determine more accurately 

 just what the conditions were. We particularly desired to determine 

 where and how extensive the egg-beds were in Montana in the fall of 

 1923. The State Entomologist was without funds. The State De- 

 partment of Agriculture, through Mr. Davis, financed one-half of 

 the survey and Mr. J. R. Parker, of the Experiment Station department 

 of entomology, made the survey in the western half of the State. The 

 Bureau of Entomology at its own expense very kindly assisted in the 

 • ■mergency and furnished both men and funds for a survey of the 

 eastern half of the State. The reports of these two agencies were 

 consolidated and appear in graphic form in a map (Fig. 3) which 

 shows the location and extent of the egg-beds as they occurred in the 

 fall of 1923. From the information accumulated it was very evident 

 t hat there was much reason to believe that a serious outbreak of grass- 



