364 REPOET UNITED STATES ENTOMOLOGICAL COMMISSION.' 



Hand-burners, consisting of any form of pan or grate, or wire sieves, 

 •with handle attached, to hohl combustible material, will do excellent 

 service in gardens and small inclosures. 



There is another method by which large numbers of locusts can be 

 burned, consisting merely of a bundle of rags or tow, which, after 

 being attached to long wire or iron rods and saturated with kerosene, 

 can be ignited and carried over the field. This method has been quite 

 satisfactorily used in Colorado. A stout wire, say forty feet long, is 

 thoroughly enveloped in rags soaked in coal-oil. A small wire is 

 wound around the rags to keep them in place, and" the simple device is 

 complete. Two men carry this rope, after set'ing fire to the rags, 

 across the field to and fro until the fuel is exhausted, and as it is not 

 necessary to pass over the same ground more than once or twice, a 

 large field of grain can be thus protected during the half hour or so that 

 the rags burn. The effect is that of a miniature prairie fire. 



Under this head may be mentioned a machine constructed by Mr. 

 Kimball 0. Attwood, of Syracuse, N. Y. (patent No. 193,105, dated July 

 17, 1877), for destroying the insects by sulphur fumes. The machine is 

 too expensive and complicated to come into general use, especially as 

 it is less effectual than some of the simpler ones. The principle of the 

 invention consists in attaching to the axle of the machine a light stove, 

 and connecting the same with a blower or bellows by means of a tube. 

 Surmounting this tube, and close to the stove, is situated the hopper for 

 the reception of the- destroying compound (sulphur), while the lower 

 section of the stove is connected with an escape-pipe having attached 

 thereto a series of flexible tubes, by means of which the fumes of the 

 compound are carried to the ground. Attached by suitable means to 

 the rear of the axle is a horizontal bar, to which is secured the apron or 

 cover designed to prevent the escape of the fumes after being delivered 

 by the flexible tubes. 



Other machines have been constructed, having troughs or wire re- 

 ceptacles attached, in which the locusts are deposited and ultimately 

 destroyed by means of sulphur fumes or hot water. But as these reme- 

 dies are applied by hand, they will be classed under the head of Catch- 

 ing, &c. 



2. CRUsnma. — To destroy locusts satisfactorily by this means, can 

 only be advantageously accomplished where the ground is smooth and 

 hard. Where the surface of the ground presents this character, heavy 

 rolling can be successfully employed, especially in the mornings and 

 evenings of the first eight or ten days after the newly -hatched young 

 have made their appearance, as they are generally sluggish during 

 those times, and huddle together until after sunrise. It is also advan- 

 tageously employed during cold weather at any time of day, since the 

 young when the temperature is low seek shelter under clods, &c. In 

 various parts of Europe and Asia, flat, wooden, spade like implements 

 are extensively used for crushing young locusts. Large brushes, 



