58 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



consensus of opinion in and about Broadalbin, as disclosed by investi- 

 gations by Mr D. B. Young the last of June, was that grasshoppers 

 were not nearly so numerous as they had been last year. 



The infestation in Saratoga county, a section where relatively 

 little poisoned bait was used last year, appeared to be decidedly 

 more serious than in Fulton county. Young grasshoppers appeared 

 in early May and an examination made the 12 th of that m.onth 

 on the farm of Mr Daniel Brown of Malta, showed a rather abundant 

 and general prevalence of the insects on land which had been allowed 

 to lie fallow for several years. There were at that time few or no 

 grasshoppers in adjacent cultivated fields. Mr Brown stated that 

 he had used some poisoned bait last year and was undecided as to 

 what to do the present season. There was a more serious infesta- 

 tion on the farm of Mr Charles H. Carr in the town of Wilton, the 

 young grasshoppers being so numerous that it was comparatively 

 easy to count from twenty-five to fifty on a square foot, though 

 this by no means represented average conditions. Mr Carr's land 

 is in a sandy region adjacent to elevated, sandy knolls, the latter 

 being badly wind-swept and showing numerous " blowouts." Last 

 year Mr Carr found it necessary to use poison as many as three times 

 on some fields and even then his vegetable garden was practically 

 destroyed. Both he and Supervisor Clarence C. Smith were of the 

 opinion that the insects flew readily, rising in swarms and repeatedly 

 devastated certain fields. The farm of Mr Daniel McNeil, also 

 of the town of Wilton, was rather badly infested, though the con- 

 ditions did not seem to be so serious as those on Mr Carr's place. 



Just outside of Saratoga on the farm of Mr George A. Supportus, 

 and in sections nearby, there was an exceptionally severe infesta- 

 tion. This was so marked on the place of Mr W. H. Harris that 

 although he had put out poisoned bait three or four times in certain 

 areas, and in spite of the fact- that he thus destroyed hosts of the 

 grasshoppers, others drifted in from adjacent fields the latter part 

 of July after the grass was cut and there was serious injury to 

 asparagus, rhubarb and celery.. 



A bad state of affairs prevailed in and about the farm of Mr 

 Stark Dake of Greenfield Center. Mr William C. Wilsie estimated 

 that he had at least fifty acres which were badly and generally 

 infested and on Mr Dake's farm there was approximately one 

 hundred acres in this condition. Mr Dake estimated that there 

 were in that section between three and four thousand acres badly 

 infested with grasshoppers. 



