REPORT OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST I914 55 



sod of roadsides and along fences is a favorite place. Enormous 

 numbers of the insects can be destroyed in such places with a blaz- 

 ing spray of oil, such as was extensively used in earlier years in the 

 work against the gipsy moth. An ordinary hand-spraying outfit may 

 be employed, using a nozzel extension, preferably iron, at least eight 

 feet long and spraying crude petroleum. The oil is lighted after the 

 apparatus is started and we have in this equipment a powerful and 

 very efficient blast torch. 



The experiments of Prof. F. L. Washburn, state entomologist of 

 Minnesota, have shown that young hoppers can be destroyed by 

 spraying the adjacent vegetation with the following compound: 

 Sodium arsenite 3 poimds, water i8o gallons, molasses i^ gallons; or 

 in reduced proportions, sodium arsenite i pound, water 60 gallons 

 and molasses 2 quarts. The sodium arsenite should be dissolved in 

 the water, the molasses added and the whole then thoroughly stirred. 

 This costs only 30 cents an acre and may be applied with any fairly 

 efficient spraying outfit. The dilution of the poison is such that it is 

 not dangerous to either plants or stock if used as directed, though 

 precautions should always be taken to prevent cattle from feeding 

 freely in sprayed fields immediately after the treatment. This spray 

 should be applied to a strip two to four rods wide around the area 

 where the young grasshoppers are abundant or, if the infestation is 

 not too extensive, to the entire field. In some instances where straw 

 is convenient, it may be spread lightly over areas badly infested with 

 young grasshoppers and then burned in the evening after the insects 

 have taken shelter beneath it. 



Hopperdozers, which are simply mechanical devices for collecting 

 grasshoppers, have been extensively employed in some western states 

 and are particularly successful in destroying the partly grown insects. 

 The essential of a hopperdozer is a rather broad, shallow pan con- 

 taining water with a little kerosene floating on its surface. This 

 device is provided with screens or shields on the side and back in 

 order to prevent many of the insects from hopping or flying over the 

 machine while in operation and some arrangement is made for draw- 

 ing it through the field. It may be pulled by hand or drawn by 

 horses and can be used to best advantage only where the infested 

 fields are moderately smooth. The sheet iron or heavy tin pans 

 should be about four inches deep, some two feet wide and from four 

 to fourteen or eighteen feet long, and in the case of the larger ones, 

 water-tight compartments should be inserted every two feet or so, 

 otherwise the water and kerosene will accumulate at one end or spill 

 and the effectiveness of the device be greatly lessened. There should 



