672 REPORT UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 



half of onr comiuonwealtli, that our reprfsentatives and governors and others in 

 anthority will all unite in obtaining the aid needed to prosecute the scientific research 

 referred to. 



The subject which most concerns us is the adoption of any or all the successful 

 means alrea<ly known, or such as may be provided, for a general and systematic cru- 

 sade against locusts next year. 



It is not certain that we shall have the impending invasion in 1877. They may 

 wholly disappear, as they did from Iowa in the spring of 18G7, without doing any 

 damage. 



Within the last thirty days I have examined many thousands of the eggs in South- 

 eastern Nebraska, and find a large proportion already destroyed. Those in the hard 

 ground, such as roadsides, are best preserved; while those in soft ground, such as 

 stubble corn-fields, or gardens, are to a very great extent carried away or consumed by 

 some predatory insect. But whatever the results may be in the spring, it is wise 

 meanwhile to disseminate among the people everywhere descriptions of every known 

 device or remedy, whether mechanical or chemical, by which we may secure partial, 

 if not good, average crops. The people are generally uninformed on this subject; 

 they do not know what to do. Arm them with reliable facts, modes of destruction, 

 and we will have a home army of millions of men, who will fight vigorously for their 

 farms and gardens. 



Those who understand these matters in Nebraska have sncceeded in driving off hordes 

 of these locusts and saving their crops. Governor Furnas, who last year lost heavily 

 by them, has now no fear either as to his farm or nursery. " He has met the enemy and 

 they are his." His modes are exceedingly simple, as he has explained them. Another 

 man in this same county raised one hundred acres of wheat by making a ditch as a 

 barrier against the creeping, unfledged locusts ; the ditch sloping to the coming hosts, 

 but steep on the other side. 



One man, in Saline County, invented a long box and placed it on wheels, so that it 

 would catch all the locusts as it approached them. By this means he saved his corn- 

 field. 



Another man, in York County, burned brimstone in a large pan with a long handle, 

 and drew it through his corn-field after the flying locusts had taken the country, and 

 he was successful in saving his entire crop. 



Again, the Meunonites came to Nebraska in 1874, and when they saw the first inva- 

 sion of locusts in August of that year did not mind them in the least; nor have they 

 manifested any concern or alarm since. The reason is, the Mennonites were familiar 

 with them in Russia, and knew how to fight them successfully. 



Some of their modes, in addition to cutting ditches, are as follows : In the springy as 

 the locusts begin to ai)pear, they are driven, by pushing them with brush or brooms, 

 to the grass or prairie, which is set on fire — that is, just that portion of the prairie which 

 has received the horde from the plowed field. The prairie-fire is then put out; and as 

 they appear day by day, more locusts are driven to the grass, which is also burned, and 

 so on until all have been destroyed. 



When the locusts are coming in swarms from abroad, the Mennonites build small 

 smoke-fires, with dry or damp straw or prairie-grass, making fires at intervals of a few 

 rods over a forty or eighty acre field. These fires or smokes are kept until the locusts 

 have passed over, and in this manner the crop is wholly or partly saved. 



But it is necessary to familiarize the people with these cheap and simple modes of 

 destruction ; and while nuich can be done through the press, much more can be done 

 by organizing the counties, towns, and districts or precincts into locust clubs, under 

 the authority or direction of the governor of each State or Territory, who may send 

 some competent person or persons over the State to assist in perfecting such organiza- 

 tions and selecting the most available men as local committees, Avho can receive and 

 distribute such printed matter as the governor may, from time to time, forward for 

 distribution. In this way a whole State may be thoroughly organized for the cam- 

 paign, and the entire i)opulation will become enthusiastic in preparing for and carry- 

 ing on this warfare. 



For otlier useful bints and suggestions the reader is referred to an 

 article " On the means of destroying the grasshopper," by V. Mots- 

 chulsky, translated from the Eussiau by Prof. W. W. Turner, and pub- 

 lished in the Smithsonian Report for 1858. 



It has also been shown that the most young may be destroyed by good 

 cultivation and a constant stirring of the soil. Swarms of winged 

 locusts may be in part driven off by smudges, or in grain-fields by 

 hitching a long rope to a horse and dragging it over the grain, thus 

 disturbing the locusts and driving them off. But after all they are only 

 driven from one field to another, and it is almost impossible to drive 



