356 REPORT UNITED STATES ENTOMOLOGICAL COMMISSION. 



were unearthed by the rains, and I will venture to say that of the egg-masses that 

 "were so washed out not one ever has or will hatch. Uncovering the egg-masses in 

 the fall is fatal to them all. — [A. H. Gleason, Little Sioux, Iowa, May 21, 1877. 



We want to get the young to hatch as soon as possible in the spring, and then go at 

 them with the '"hopper dozer" determinedly and unitedly, and we can destroy them. 

 To that end I believe harrowing is to be recommended for several reasons ; first, many 

 of the eggs are spoiled by the sun and weather ; secondly, the birds can get at them 

 better and. devour millions of them; and, thirdly, those that are not destroyed hatch 

 early and can be killed before the vegetation gets too rank, as afrerward it is far more 

 difficult to capture them. — [J. I. Salter, Saint Cloud, Minn., June 7, 1877. 



1 have only one instance of harrowing the ground in fall. My nearest neighbor put 

 in a piece of new breaking with rye, first using eeeder and then harrow. The result 

 now srands that the rye is good and but few 'hoppers. The eggs were raked out almost 

 or quite as thickly as the grain sown, and they were much thicker just benea^h the 

 loose top soil. The nature of our soil is a clay loam — yellow-clay subsoil.— £ John 

 Wise, Nebo, Platte County, Nebr., May 5, 1877. 



2. Plowing. — Next to harrowing this is one of the most generally 

 available means possessed by the farmer of dealing with locust-eggs, 

 and it is well to fully understand how it may be made most effectual in 

 destroying them. 



Uxjperiments to test the effects of burying at different depths, and of press- 

 ing the soil. — The following series of experiments was made with eggs 

 obtained at Manhattan, Kans., early in November, and similar in condi- 

 tion to those in the first series. Large tin cylindrical boxes, made of 

 different depths, and varying from 4 to 8 inches in diameter, were 

 used ; and in order to hasten the result they were kept indoors at the 

 temperature already mentioned. The soil in all the boxes was finely 

 comminuted and kept in uniform and moderately moist condition. It 

 was gently pressed with the fingers, so as to approach in compactness 

 the surface-soil of a well-cultivated garden. In each instance the eggs 

 were placed in the center of the box. A large number of eggs were 

 buried at different depths out-doors where they were under natural con- 

 ditions of soil pressure and temperature. The soil was a tolerably stiff 

 yellow clay, and was pretty well compacted by many heavy rains, after 

 the frost was thawed out. The results of the outdoor experiments com- 

 port with those made in the boxes. The eggs being placed at every 

 depth from 1 to 18 inches, and each batch covered with a wire screen, 

 the result was accurately determined. All at 1 inch below the surface 

 hatched ; about one-third of those at 2 inches managed to escape, and 

 none from any greater depth. Examined May 12, they had hatched 

 down to a depth of 12 inches, and worked their way upward, and hori- 

 zontally, seldom extending more than linch in the former, or more than 

 2 inches in the latter direction. Most of those at greater depths were at 

 that time unhatched. In looser soil they would doubtless have man- 

 aged to push somewhat farther. 



Experiment 30. — Ten egg-masses were placed just 1 inch below the surface in the 

 center of a box four inches in diameter. The young began to appear January 30, when 

 . it was noticed that every one came up at the side of the box, between the earth and 

 the tin, where there was more or less shrinking of the former from the latter. Upon 

 pressing the earth more firmly around the border, the issuing of the young ceased. 

 Upon examining the eggs, March 7, it was found that they had all hatched. A few of 

 the young were «till alive, and endeavoring to escape ; the rest had died in the effort. 

 They had made no progress upward through the pressed surface, but had pushed 

 horizontally as the looser earth permitted. 



