ENCOURAGEMENT OF NATURAL AGENCIES. 351 



During the summer of 1877, we received a number of plans and sugges- 

 tions for the destruction of the locust; some of them direct, others through 

 the Department of the Interior. Many of these were sent by persons 

 having no experience whatever with the insect, and were purely theo- 

 retical or visionary ; while others were intended to gratuitously adver- 

 tise some pet patent nostrum. We have taken notice of those only 

 which gave some promise of possible usefulness. Of the machines and 

 devices for destruction submitted to us, we have endeavored, as far as 

 time would permit, to personally examine and test in the field all such 

 as appeared worthy of trial ; and, where personal attention could not 

 be given, to have such test made by competent parties. We shall illus- 

 trate or describe all which came under our notice that are in any way 

 worthy of consideration. 



The means to be employed for the destruction of this pest very natu- 

 rally fall into five divisions: 1, encouragement of natural a^gencles; 2, 

 destruction of the eggs ; 3, destruction of the young or unfledged 

 insects ; 4, destruction of the mature or winged insects ; 5, preventive 

 measures. 



ENCOURAGEMENT OF NATURAL AGENCIES. 



While little practically can be done by man to further the multiplica- 

 tion of the more minute enemies of the locust enumerated in Chapter 

 XI, much may be done to protect, and to promote the multiplication 

 of, the larger animals treated of in Chapter XII — especially the birds. 

 These should be protected by most stringent laws, firmly carried out, 

 restraining the wanton destruction too often indulged in by sportsmen 

 and others. Some of the States interested in this question have of late 

 years passed good laws for the protection of these feathered friends, 

 but the laws are, unfortunately, too often a dead letter for w^ant of 

 enforcement. One of the most effectual and successful ways of protect- 

 ing and encouraging many of the smaller birds is to offer a reward for 

 hawks. This has been done with very beneficial results in Colorado, 

 and other States would do well to follow her example. 



DESTRUCTION OF THE EGGS. 



The destruction of the eggs has been followed, in the older countries 

 of the East, since Pliny's time, and has long been recognized in Europe 

 and Asia as one of the most efficacious means of averting locust injury. 

 These eggs are laid in masses, just beneath the surface of the ground, 

 seldom to a depth of more than an inch ; and we have already consid- 

 ered the character of soil and the sites preferred by the females in 

 laying them. In years like 1874 and 1876 we have known favorable 

 locations, for many hundreds of square miles, so thickly supplied with 

 these eggs that scarcely an inch of the soil could be stirred without ex- 

 posing them. As a rule, the dead bodies of the locusts strewn about 

 the ground in autumn are a good indication of the presence of eggs in 

 such ground, though the eggs may often be abundant without this indi- 



