252 REPORT UNITED STATES ENTOMOLOGICAL COMMISSION. 



since late in the autumn thej^ are constantly dying from exhaustion 

 and senility. At all events the evidence is not sufficiently general and 

 uniform as to the hurtful effects of tobacco to permit us to accept it as 

 a demonstrate*d fact. Horse-radish is rarely touched. 



Of cereals, corn is their favorite ; if young and tender, every part is 

 devoured to the ground ; if older and drier, the stalks are mostly left ; 

 the silk is, however, the first part to go. An impression prevails in 

 Colorado that white corn is more proof against the insects than other 

 kinds. All other cereals are to their taste, except sorghum and broom- 

 corn, which are often left untouched. 



Speaking of the immunity often enjoyed by sorghum, Mr. Seth H. 

 Kenny, of Morristown, Minn., himself a most successful grower of this 

 crop, writes; 



I have been for eighteen years a grower of sugar-cane. Last fall made over 600 

 pounds good brown sugar from cane. I received first premium at State fair and the 

 thanks of Chamber of Commerce at Saint Paul, April 2, and this last spring I am happy 

 to say they do not trouble this crop. I have one acre peas ; they are full of hoppers ; 

 they eat the pigeon-grass, but do not touch the peas ; yet they eat the leaves off my 

 small apple-trees ; eat one-third acre onions after I had them weeded. They have eaten 

 some strawberry-vines that were newly set this spring. 



It has been very generally remarked in Minnesota that the bearded 

 varieties of wheat are less damaged by the winged insects than the 

 smooth varieties, and in 1877 the Eed Osakee suffered less than the 

 Fife. Oats and winter-rye more often escape than other small grains. 

 All the tame grasses are devoured with avidity. Wild prairie-grass 

 is relished when young and tender, but usually little injured when ma- 

 ture. Yet cases are on record by travelers in the Northwest, even dur- 

 ing the last century, of the wild grass being so effectually mown down 

 by these locusts as to render it difficult to find feed for horses j and Mr. 

 B. M. Probstfield, who has resided at Moorhead, Minn., since 1859, re- 

 lates that in 1804 the locusts cleaned off the wild grass, and stripped the 

 trees of leaves to such an extent that the timber wore a wintry aspect. 



The insects are fond of Buckwheat and Flax, but less fond of the 

 Castor-bean. Indeed, statements have been repeatedly circulated in the 

 agricultural press that this i)lant is proof against the locust; but they 

 are incorrect and delusive. The plant is not liked, and ordinarily is 

 passed by or merely nibbled at. The flower is more often devoured 

 than any other part, but the whole plant is not nnfrequently ruined. 

 There is a general belief that this plant also acts as a poison on the 

 locusts, but we have been unable to obtain any positive evidence of the 

 fact, and the belief probably arose in the same way as that regarding 

 tobacco. 



Last summer we met with several instances where Hungarian grass 

 had been sown on wheat land where the wheat had been badly injured ; 

 but the grass was so much liked that the locusts never allowed it to 

 come up. The young insects in spring sometimes kill out a blue-grass 

 pasture, but more generally it recovers from their attacks, and wild 



