BURNING THE YOUNG LOCUSTS. 363 



1. Burning. — This method is, perhaps, the best in prairie aod wheat- 

 growing regions, which compose the larger part of the area subject to 

 devastation bv this locust. In such regions there is usually more or less 

 old straw or hay which may be scattered over or around the field in 

 heaps and windrows, and into which the locusts, for some time after 

 they hatch, may be driven and burned. During cold or damp weather 

 they congregate of their own accord under such shelter, when they may 

 be destroyed by burning, without the necessity of previous driving. 

 Much has been said for and against the beneficial results of burning the 

 prairies in the spring. This is chiefly beneficial around cultivated fields 

 or along the roadsides, from which the locusts may be driven, or from 

 which they will of themselves pass for the shelter the prairie affords. 

 Scarcely any eggs are laid in rank prairie, and the general impression 

 that locusts are slaughtered by myriads in burning extensive areas is an 

 erroneous one, at least in the Temporary region. 



In burning extensive prairies after the bulk of the locusts hatch, the 

 nests and eggs of many game birds are destroyed ; but as the birds 

 themselves escape destruction on the wing, they may and do return and 

 nest again, while, on the contrary, many injurious insects, like the 

 Chinch-bug, for instance, are killed, so that, even leaving the locust 

 question out of consideration, the burning proves beneficial by extermi- 

 nating other noxious insects, and has some advantages from an agri- 

 cultural point of view. 



As locusts disperse more and more from their hatching-grounds into 

 the prairie as they develop, burning the grass in spring is beneficial in 

 proportion as it is delayed. 



Machines for burning have been used in several localities with con- 

 siderable success. Mr. J. Hetzel, of Longmont, Colo., has employed a 

 machine drawn by horses. It is 12 feet long, from 2 to 2J feet wide, 

 made of iron, and set on runners 4 inches high. An open grate on the 

 top of the runners is filled with pitch-pine wood, a metal sheet covering 

 the grate to keep the heat directed downward. The grate is generally 

 made with a net-work of heavy wire, such as telegraph wire. Two men 

 and a team can readily burn from 10 to 12 acres a day, and kill two- 

 thirds of the insects, but for this it requires a hot fire. 



Mr. C. C. Horner gives a more detailed description, in the Colorado 



Fanner, of a machine of somewhat similar construction : 



It consists of three runners, made of 2 by 4 scantling, 3 feet in length, to be placed 6 

 feet apart, making the machine 12 feet wide ; runners to be bound together by three 

 flat straps or bars of iron (the base being 12 feet loag). Across the top, bars of iron 

 hold the runners firmly together, and form a frame across "which wire can be worked 

 to make a grate to hold fire. The upper part of the runners should be hollowed out so 

 that the grate may slide along within two inches of the ground. A sheet-iron arch 

 should be set over this grate to drive the heat downward. This machine is very light, 

 and can be worked with one horse. Pitch- wood is best adapted to burning, and can 

 be chopped the right length and size and left in piles where most convenient when 

 needed. This machine is intended to be used when the little 'hoppers just make their 

 appearance along the edge of the grain, going over the ground once or twice each day, 

 or as often as necessary to keej) them killed off. The scorching does not kill the grain 

 but makes it a few days later. This is certainly the cheapest, as well as the most 

 effectual, manner of getting rid of this pest. 



