16 GRASSHOPPERS IN GENERAL. 



hopper eating the tassels and silk of the corn before attacking the 

 leaves. Native grasshoppers have troubled him somewhat for five 

 years. Farmers of this vicinity do not, as a rule, plow their ground 

 every year. It was his opinion that the best wheat could be secured 

 only from ground thoroughly cultivated before sowing. Specimens 

 of grasshoppers received from him proved to be the Differential Locust, 

 M. differentially. 



WALLACE COUNTY. Conditions continued the same on the road 

 into Sharon Springs. The valley of the Smoky Hill river contains 

 considerable alfalfa. I met a number of farmers of this valley who 

 were in Sharon Springs trading. From them I learned that the grass- 

 hoppers had cut down the alfalfa in patches in tlie fields, but there 

 was no general or sweeping destruction being caused by them. 



LOGAN COUNTY. From Sharon Springs I went on a slow train 

 over the Union Pacific through Logan county as far as Oakley. 

 From what I could see from the train and ascertain from farmers 

 boarding the train at the smaller stations, I was satisfied that condi- 

 tions were in no way different from the counties previously visited. 

 From Oakley I went north by train to Colby. 



THOMAS COUNTY. Inquiries made at Colby gave answers much 

 the same as those previously received, and made me believe that a 

 drive out through the country would not add any new facts concern- 

 ing the actions of the grasshopper under consideration. 



SHERMAN COUNTY. Press reports having been sent out from Good- 

 land concerning the prevalence of grasshoppers along the railroad, 

 their numbers being reported such as to interfere with the action of 

 the drive-wheels upon the rails, I decided to go out and investigate. 

 Upon reaching Goodland, I was taken out in the gardens and yards of 

 the city by Attorney G. L. Calvert, and shown the actions of the lo- 

 custs upon the gardens. From Mr. Calvert I also learned that the 

 damage from grasshoppers in Sherman county had been almost en- 

 tirely confined to the crops of small grains; that the grasshoppers 

 had eaten off the heads of the wheat, oats and barley to a considerable 

 extent, in some fields. In the current issue of the Goodland Repub- 

 lican, I noticed that a correspondent from one of the outlying post- 

 offices mentioned the fact that grasshoppers were injuring gardens 

 seriously. In conversation with Mr. William Walker, a hardware 

 merchant of Goodland, and also owner of farm lands managed under 

 his direction, I learned that it was a custom there to sow the wheat 

 upon the ground without giving the land previous cultivation. It 

 was Mr. Walker's opinion that better yields could be secured if the 

 surface of the ground was thoroughly pulverized and then packed 

 this, he gave the instance of a man who, this year, had sown wheat 

 upon ground so prepared and secured a heavier yield of wheat which 



