386 REPORT UNITED 8TATES ENTOMOLOGICAL COMMISSION. 



1 



Fig, 92.— Anderson Coal-oil CoNxravANCE. 



and then knocking them into the pan. A brush of cloth is sometime s 

 fastened to one arm of the reel to brash into the pan any locusts that 

 may be on the front piece. Several of these pans were used about Abi- 

 lene, and did good work. 



A contrivance shown in Fig. 92 was constructed by President John A. 

 Anderson for use on the Agricultural College farm at Manhattan, Kaus. 

 The following description is taken from the Industrialist : 



Yesterday afternoon we had the following cheap machine built in a couple of hours, 

 which thus far promises to do all the work of either of the oil-r achines : Three pieces 



of fence-board, 4 feet long 

 and 3 or 4 feet apart, serve 

 as sled-runners. To the 

 front ends is nailed a fence- 

 board 15 or more feet long. 

 To this, and over the run- 

 ners, three pieces of slats, 

 each 4 feet loDf]f, are at- 

 tached by a leather hinge ; 

 and inch-and-a-half holes 

 through the back end of 

 thtse slats receive light 

 standards, the lower ends 

 of which are fastened to 

 the back ends of the run- 

 ners by a leather hinge. 

 Peg-holes in the upper half 

 of the standards enable 

 ycu to place the slats at 

 any desirable angle. On 

 the back ends of these slats 

 is nailed a strip 15 feet long, parallel with the fence-board and 3 feet from it ; and to 

 these is tacked coarse muslin 15 feet in length, which forms an apron or movable screen 

 that can be set at any angle. To the front ends of the outside runners a long piece of 

 fence-wire was attached, and a mule was hitched to the wire, much to the disgust of 

 the mule. A boy can pull the light machine, but mules pull longer than boys do. 



On trial it worked to a charm ; and this morning the ground gone over shows sev- 

 eral dead 'hoppers to the square foot, notwithstanding the fact that they had quickly " 

 jumped off the apron. It should be used against the wind, and promises to be very 

 effective. Any man can make the above in two hours, and it is worth trying. 



It was found to do very good service, killing the young locusts in 

 considerable numbers. The oil did not evaporate so rapidly as was an- 

 ticipated. One thorough saturation was sufficient for fifteen or twenty 

 minutes, when a little more could be added. If the machine be hauled 

 against the wind, nearly all the locusts which hop will touch the oiled 

 canvas. They generally take several hops upon the canvas before leaving 

 it, thus insuring a thorough saturation with the oil. After hopping from 

 the apron they can take two or three hops upon the ground, then lose 

 all power in their hind legs, stretching them straight out behind, and 

 finally, in one or two minutes after being " oiled," they are dead. 



The Weelcly BocJcy Mountain News of May 16, 1877, contained the 

 following notice and description of another contrivance : 



Mr. Ben Long brought into town yesterday about a half bushel of grasshoppers, 

 weighing .35 pounds, caught in four hours, on half an acre of ground, two and a half 

 miles northeast of Boulder, with his new machine. The machine is composed of two 

 tronghs, each 5 feet long, and joined V-shape, the angle being toward the body of the 

 machine. It takes up about 7 feet in width. The troughs are 5 inches wide, an 

 inch high, filled mostly with wat^r and covered with kerosene. Behind the trough i.s 



