26 MO^'TAXA EXPERl.MKM" HTATIOX BULLETIN 294 



Basin, and Fergus, where the s'rcat part of onr 27,000,000 bnsliel 

 wheat crop was produced in 1934, the great majority of farmers are 

 convinced they would not liave raised a tenth of a crop if they had 

 not controlled the grasslioppers. It was in these counties that the 

 very heaviest infestations occurred. Approximately $200,000 of fed- 

 eral money was spent in the non-drought counties. Suppose we dis- 

 regard entirely the large acreages in tame hay, oats, barley, and rye, 

 and also the hundreds of gardens in urban as well as rural sections 

 protected from severe if not total loss. And suppose we discount the 

 word of hundreds of farmers and set down only half of the wheat 

 crop in the worst infested counties as being saved from the grass- 

 hoppers. Even that conservative method of estimating shows a saving 

 of $7,500,000 at current wheat prices. It would seem that the invest- 

 ment of $200,000 was rather amply repaid. 



PLOWING AS A SUPPLEMENT TO THE BAIT METHOD IN 

 GRASSHOPPER CONTROL 



B}' late summer, 1933, it was realized that grasshoppers were 

 going to be so thick in Montana during 1934 that all possible ways of 

 controlling them should be put to use. The dominant species present 

 was the lesser-migratory grasshopper {Melanopliis mexicanus Sauss.). 

 Whereas other common species deposit their eggs in sod, along ditch 

 banks, roadsides, etc., the eggs of this species are to be found mostly 

 in stubble fields. Experience in the past had taught us that the 

 poisoned bait method of control would lie very seriously handicapped 

 if much "stubbling in" of grain crops was practiced. The poison 

 method is most effective when directed against the invasion of grass- 

 hoppers into a field. When the 'hoppers hatch out all over a field 

 poisoning is inefficient and often ineffective. For these reasons a 

 special effort was made to encourage the plowing of all heavily in- 

 fested fields before the hatching period of the grasshoppers. 



Fortunately, on account of heavy rains v,'hieh fell over most of the 

 state in September, 1933, plowing conditions were very good and 

 many counties showed an increase in fall plowing of as much as 50 

 per cent above average years. Considerably more than the usual 

 amount of spring plowing was also don^. although the "stubbling in" 

 idea was far from eliminated. 



Plowing as a method of destroying the eggs, however, did not 

 give uniformly gootl results. In some cases it was very effective ; in 

 others grasshoppers still liatched out successfully. The moisture con- 



