MONTANA INSECT PESTS, 1949 AND 1950 7 



A cooperative range baiting program was organized in south- 

 eastern Montana with the Federal Government through its Bureau 

 of Entomology and Plant Quarantine Grasshopper Control Division 

 furnishing the bait materials, the counties mixing the bait, and the 

 individual ranchers hiring aircraft to apply the bait. Ninety-two 

 thousand acres of privately owned range land were baited under 

 this program. In addition, the Federal Government baited 142,000 

 acres of public domain entirely at federal expense. Sodium flu- 

 osilicate bran sawdust wet bait was not used on crop lands during 

 the growing season. Only 79,540 acres were baited for fall protec- 

 tion of newly seeded winter wheat. Farmers and ranchers made 

 extensive use of toxaphene, chlordane, and aldrin insecticides for 

 crop and range grasshopper control as recommended. It is esti- 

 mated that a total of 700,000 acres of crop and range land were 

 protected in this manner. Aldrin, a new chlorinated hydrocarbon 

 insecticide, was used on a testing basis applied principally by air- 

 craft, on approximately 80,000 acres of crop and range land. Ex- 

 cellent results were obtained with this insecticide, and it will 

 probably be used extensively in the future, primarily because of 

 its low cost per acre. 



OUTLOOK FOR 1951 



It is difficult, if not impossible, to consistently predict grass- 

 hopper outbreaks with a reasonable degree of accuracy. On the 

 basis of past history and the information available, the following 

 is expected for 1951: An increase in grasshopper numbers in an 

 area running diagonally through the central part of the state 

 from Billings to Great Falls, and extending nearly to the Canadian 

 border; an increase of grasshoppers in the area from Great Falls 

 east to Valley County and from the Canadian border to the Mis- 

 souri River; an increase in grasshoppers in the Gallatin and Shields 

 River valleys; an increase in grasshoppers in the general area 

 infested in 1950 in Missoula, Lake, Sanders, Flathead, and Lincoln 

 counties; a reduction in grasshoppers in the southeastern area from 

 Billings east and south of the Yellowstone River; and a reduction 

 of grasshoppers in the northeastern area including Daniels, Sher- 

 idan, Roosevelt, and Richland counties. 



RANGE GRASSHOPPER INVESTIGATIONS 



These investigations of range grasshoppers, their plant associ- 

 ations, and the damage caused by the 'hoppers were supported 

 jointly by the State Entomologist, Montana Agricultural Experi- 

 ment Station, and Montana State College. This represents a pre- 

 liminary step in what is hoped will become a project which will 

 get at the fundamentals behind grasshopper outbreaks. It is con- 

 ceivable that once these fundamentals are mastered, it would then 

 be possible to economically prevent grasshopper outbreaks. 



