416 EEPORT UNITED STATES ENTOMOLOGICAL COMMISSION. 



brought about much earlier if they had not had the cultivated crops to 

 feed upon ; and if, by concert of action, this system of non-planting 

 could at first have been adopted over large areas, the insects would have 

 been much sooner starved out and obliged to congregate in the pastures, 

 X)rairies, and timber. Moreover, the time required for early planting 

 and cultiv'ation, if devoted to destroying the insects after the bulk of 

 them hatch out, toward the end of April, would virtually annihilate 

 them. The multiplication of any species of animal beyond the power 

 of the country to support it, inevitably proves the destruction of that 

 species, unless it is able to migrate. Let fifty batches of canker-worm 

 eggs hatch out op a single somewhat isolated apple-tree, and not one 

 worm will survive long enough to mature. The leaves of the tree will 

 be devoured before the worms are half-grown, and the latter must then 

 inevitably perish ; whereas, if only a dozen batches of eggs had hatched 

 on that tree, the worms might all have lived and matured. In the same 

 way, the young locusts inevitably perish whenever they are so numerous 

 as to devour every green thing before they become fledged; and in cer- 

 tain circumstances, the sooner such a condition of things is brought 

 about the better. The greatest generals and the mightiest armies must 

 yield to starvation. 



^' Grain might also be sown in 'lands' or strips, fifty to one hundred feet 

 wide, to permit of ditching between them, and those who have fall wheat 

 up and doing well, where the eggs are thickly laid, should make ditches 

 at intervals through the field to facilitate the saving of the grain in the 

 spring." 



In the cultivation of corn, or any crop that needs cultivation while 

 growing, it is very desirable to keep the surface of the ground well 

 stirred and pulverized by harrow or plow. The young insects dislike a 

 pulverized surface, while the mature females also dislike it for oviposi- 

 tion. 



''As a means of assisting farmers in the destruction of the unfledged 

 locusts by trenches and in other ways, I would also urge the employ- 

 ment of the soldiers, a large force of whom, in times of peace, could be 

 ordered to the field at short notice. To many, the idea of employing 

 soldiers to assist the agriculturist in battling with this pest may seem 

 farcical enough, but though the men might not find glory in the fight, 

 the war, unlike most other wars, would be fraught only with good con- 

 sequences to mankind. In Algeria the custom prevails of sending the 

 soldiers against these insects. While in the south of France last sum- 

 mer [1875], I found to my great satisfaction that at Aries, Bouche du 

 Ehone, where the unfledged locusts {Caloptenus itaUcus, sl species closely 

 allied to our Kocky Mountain Locust) were doing great harm, the sol- 

 diers had been sent in force to do battle with them, and were then and 

 there waging a vigorous war against the tiny foe. A few regiments, 

 armed with no more deadly weapons than the common spade, sent out 

 to sections of country that are suffering from locust ravages, might in 



