PROTECTION BY BARRIERS: COAL-OIL. 381 



than two weeks old, respectively. 'Hoppers are very uneasy when young, and almost 

 constantly on the move when the weather is lair, and will, as a consequence, reach the 

 ditch at some point soon after they are hatched out. We had but little or no trouble 

 to take care of the 'hoppers until after they were more than half grown and had 

 traveled two or three miles and had collected in large droves ; then they came in such 

 numbers that it was sometimes difficult to take care of them. But if my neighbors 

 had provided ditches but a small number of those would have ever reached us. 



The number of rods of 'hopper-ditch cut on my farm is between 050 and 700 rods, at 

 a cost not to exceed $1 per acre of the entire farm of 120 acres. 



Through low, wet places, where ditches are impracticable, stock-boards can be set up 

 edgewise and use common fence-boards for caps (thus: T), breaking the joints of the 

 stock-boards with the center of the fence-boards, to prevent the stock-boards from 

 falling over. 



There were times after the weather became warm when, in passing along the ditch, 

 it would remind one of a hive of honey-bees swarming, from the buzzing no se of the 

 "bluebottle" flies, busy among the dead and dying 'hoppers in the sink-holes, and 

 sometimes the stench was so great from decomposing 'hoppers that it was sickening to 

 pass along to the windward ©f the ditch. — [J. C. Curryer, Saint Jamea, Minn., July I'J, 

 1877. 



But people are everywhere coming back to the realization of the fact that lihc ditch 

 is the best thing of all. At Clearwater they began at least a week earlier than at 

 Monticello, and all turned to ditching with a prospect of saving half a crop. — [Mr. 

 Allen Whitman, June 16, 1877. 



Ditching is the most effectual way of fighting the young, but is too expensive in a 

 new country where many poor men have to fight single-handed. — [J. G. McGrue, 

 Audubon, Becker County, Minn., November 5, 1877, 



Farmers living at Brushy Bend dug a ditch over half a mile long, on the north side 

 of a farm. At the bottom of the trench they made holes abont five feet apart, making 

 about four hundred and eighty holes in all. Each of these holes will hold about a 

 bushel, and the 'hoppers traveling south from the sand-ridges will fill them quite full 

 in one day. This would seem incredible, but nevertheless that one ditch is destroying 

 about four hundred and eighty bushels of 'hoppers per day. — \_Nebras'ka Eagle. 



They can be fought, and fought successfully. Pans with kerosene or coal-tar may 

 be economically used. But ditching is the thing; yes, the very thing. This season, 

 in this county, hundreds of bushels have been destroyed by this method ; whole farms, 

 reaching hundreds of acres, have been perfectly protected. One of our citizens has 

 taken over one hundred bushels, and this at a time when the insects were not one- 

 third grown. — [A. H. G-ieason, Little Sioux, Iowa, June, 1877. 



From what I have seen, I believe that on the smooth, open prairie, where ditching 

 is properly done, it is one of the best means of protection against the youug 'hop- 

 pers.— [J. I. Salier, Saint Cloud, Minn., June, 1877. 



Ditching has been resorted to and x)roved satisfactory. Nature of soil, sandy loam ; 

 depth of ditch, eighteen inches ; width of ditch, two feet. — [Thomas Nixon, Argyle, 

 Sumner County, Kans., June 5, 1877. 



Protection by harriers. — Where ditches are not easily made, and where 

 lumber is plentiful, a board fence two feet high and with 3-inch batten 

 nailed to top on side from which the locusts are coming, the edge of it 

 smeared with coal-tar, wi 1 answer as an effectual barrier, and prove 

 useful to protect fields or gardens. 



Coal-oil. — The use of coal-oil and coal-tar may best be considered in 

 Ihis connection, as both substances are employed in various ways for 

 trapping and destroying the insects. As we shall presently see, in con- 



