GRASSHOPPERS AND ALFALFA. 53 



grasshoppers. Here it seems to the writer is an excellent example of 

 the old expression, "killing two birds with one stone." The destruc- 

 tive influences of grasshoppers are removed, and at the same time and 

 by the same work the yield is made more certain and of much greater 

 quantity. Nothing was so convincing of this effect as a look over a 

 quarter-section thus treated, and that this view might be given the 

 reader, plates numbers I, v and vi are produced. 



At the close of the season, I asked Superintendent Smart for an 

 estimate of the yield of the alfalfa land under his care. His state- 

 ment I will give verbatim : "In regard to the yield of alfalfa on our 

 lands, I will say that the first crop raised on land that was disked was 

 about one and one-fourth tons per acre, and the second crop, one ton 

 per acre. We have harvested on our lands in Edwards and Ford 

 counties, the past year, about 2500 acres, and the average yield for the 

 first crop was three-fourths of a ton per acre, and the second crop, 

 one-half ton." 



Of further interest will be the wide experience of Superintendent 

 Watson upon this subject ; I have deemed it advisable to ask him to 

 give his views, and these are as follows : 



ALFALFA, IRRIGATION AND LAND COMPANY, 



LAND DEPARTMENT. 



I have been intimately connected with alfalfa culture in western Kansas for 

 five years and have had charge of the seeding of 4000 acres. The advantages 

 and profits arising from this crop are inestimable. No forage-plant is better 

 adapted to the soil of the Arkansas valley than is alfalfa. I have observed, how- 

 ever, in recent years, a prevalence of native grasshoppers. The cause of their 

 increase was not clear to me until my attention was called to their appearance in 

 alfalfa fields, and that in territory away from alfalfa they were not so trouble- 

 some. For instance, I had a half-section of land on the high prairie in cultiva- 

 tion for eight years, and grasshoppers gave no trouble whatever. Four years 

 ago I sowed twenty acres of alfalfa upon this tract. This year the grasshoppers 

 caused damage to alfalfa seed crop and damaged forty acres of wheat joining. I 

 am glad, however, to say that it has become evident that a better degree of culti- 

 vation will not only remove the grasshoppers, but also increase the quality and 

 quantity of alfalfa produced. The alfalfa lands disked, upon our ranches, ac- 

 cording to instructions, have shown remarkable freedom from grasshoppers, and 

 very satisfactory increase in the alfalfa yield. If farmers will cooperate in culti- 

 vating their alfalfa fields in the early spring, and use the 'hopper catcher to 

 capture any 'hoppers that may appear, it is very evident, since these are bred and 

 die upon the same farm, that in a year or two there will be no further damage 

 caused by them. GEO. W. WATSON, Superintendent. 



