TWEXTVFIFTH EEPORT OF STATE ENTOMOLOGIST 7 



realize the importance of this work. Tlie savings made to them 

 through the activities of this office in 1934 are very real. Although 

 the grasshopper bait was supplied by the federal government, the 

 prosecution of the work, the consignment and diversion of hundreds 

 of carloads of bait, the directions under which it was used, the train- 

 ing of the personnel in charge of county campaigns, and a host of 

 other functions necessary to the success of the work, fell to this 

 office. In 1935 not only grasshoppers but Mormon crickets will de- 

 mand very full attention. 



The State Entomologist appropriation is not to be confused with 

 the appropriation for the State Board of Entomology. Under the 

 latter organization rodent control, as an important factor in the con- 

 trol of Rocky Mountain spotted fever, is carried on in Ravalli and 

 Missoula counties. The work of the State Entomologist covers the 

 entire state but, in spite of that fact, his appropriation in the past 

 two bienniums has been about one-tenth that of the State Board of 

 Entomology. 



GRASSHOPPERS IN 1933 



Fifteen counties carried on organized grasshopper control cam- 

 paigns in 1933. The infested areas conformed very closely to the 

 prediction made in the Twenty-Fourth Report of the State Entom- 

 ologist, issued in December, 1932. The important outbreaks as noted 

 at that time were to be expected in Pondera, Toole, Hill, Valley, 

 Daniels, Roosevelt, Richland, Dawson, AYibaux, and Fergus counties. 

 As will be seen in table 1 these were the counties where the large 

 acreages were treated. Cascade County was somewhat under-esti- 

 mated. Roosevelt and Wibaux counties, although grasshoppers caused 

 considerable damage there, left the control work to individual farmers. 



In addition to the counties listed and for which some data are 

 given, there were many other counties where farmers were required 

 to devote much time and money to grasshopper control. The total 

 area poisoned pro])ably reached nearly 500,000 acres. In spite of the 

 fact that in some cases protected crops dried up and produced no 

 profit, as in parts of Valley County, in other districts fair yields of 

 grain made the grassliopper work pay for itself many times. Such 

 was the case in Hill County where it was conservatively estimated 

 that from 20,000 to 30.000 acres in crop were saved from the 'hoppers. 



