4 MONTANA EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 366 



is not an individual problem. Mormon crickets notoriously 

 migrate on foot in large bands from one farm to another, one 

 county to another, and even from one state to another. Grass- 

 hoppers commonly migrate locally every year, and occasionally, 

 as in 1938, they fly in large hordes for great distances. 



Responsibility for assistance in control lies with all owners 

 of agricultural or other lands upon which they may breed. These 

 owners include the Federal Government, the State, the counties, 

 corporations, farmers, etc. All of these groups have a respon- 

 sibility, and all have been meeting it to a greater or lesser ex- 

 tent. The proportion of land ownership might be a logical basis 

 from which to figure proportionate responsibility. Of the 92,- 

 737,869 acres in the State, the following are the percentages of 

 ownership: 1 



Groups Per-Cent 



Federal 35.64 



State 5.67 



County 2.72 



Miscellaneous 07 



Corporate groups 14.25 



Non-resident individuals 10.89 



Resident individuals ...30.75 



Responsibility, then, would fall in the following order: in- 

 dividual, Federal Government, corporate groups, State, and 

 county. The actual distribution of responsibility during the past 

 two years has been: individual (including labor involved), Fed- 

 eral, county, State, and corporations. The State is not giving its 

 proper proportion of assistance in insect control, and land-own- 

 ing corporations are contributing very little. The problem of 

 obtaining assistance from these corporations and from non-resi- 

 dent land owners deserves considerable attention. Non-resident 

 land owners represent the most difficult group from which to 

 obtain assistance. The logical procedure would be to assess a 

 percentage of the cost of control work carried on on their 

 lands, or of benefit to their lands, as taxes. Corporate owners 

 are fewer in number and their assistance might be more easily 

 obtained. The State's contribution could be cared for easily by 



'Renne, R. R., Montana Land Ownership, Mont. Agr. Exp. Sta. Bui. 322. 

 1936. 



