APPENDIX V. — Godfrey's kansas report. [89] 



est numbers from 9 a. m. until noon. Very few were ever seen to issue in the after- 

 noon, and none at all toward night. A warm rain seemed to favor their hatching, for 

 they issued in increased numbers after each warm shower. The soil being warm and 

 moist greatly facilitated their escape to the surface, but as a dry crust formed, they 

 worked their way through it with di£Qculty. In light, warm, sandy soils the hatching 

 was from two to four weeks earlier than in those of a heavy, tenacious nature. The 

 eggs developed most uniformly in sandy situations, while in heavy clay soils the hatch- 

 ing process was greatly retarded, and extended over a longer period. Thus at Salina 

 the hatching was about completed by the first week in May, while at Manhattan, 

 where the soil is of a less sandy nature, the young locusts did not appear in greatest 

 numbers until the 10th to the i5th of May. 



In Brown and Nemaha Counties, but few locusts appeared before the 15th of May, 

 and then only in small numbers. Here the soil is heavy and tenacious, containing 

 very little sand. A slight difference in the composition of the soil makes a marked 

 difference in the period of hatching. 



REMEDIES. 



1. Plowing. — Whenever the ground was deeply and thoroughly plowed in the fall 

 after the eggs were deposited, the locusts failed to appear. This remedy is simple, and 

 has proved very effective in every instance where tried. In locust years each farmer 

 should fall-plow every field and roadside on his farm which contains locust eggs, and 

 which is sufficiently loose to allow of deep plowing. The ground thus plowed should 

 not be replowed in the spring, as in cases where this was done the eggs were brought 

 to the surface and soon hatched. The object in fall-plowing is to cover the eggs with 

 earth, which will become sufficiently compact during the winter to prevent their escape 

 to the surface. If the eggs be plowed under after they have commenced to hatch in 

 the spring, the locusts will still continue to hatch, and the soil will in many instances 

 be loose enough to permit a certain proportion to escape to the surface. 



2. Harrowing.— This, when practiced, was attended with good results. Where the 

 ground was well and repeatedly loosened with a heavy harrow and the egg-pods 

 broken and brought to the surface, no locusts hatched. This is best done during the 

 fall, and should be repeated at intervals during the winter whenever the weather will 

 permit. By this means the eggs are disturbed and brought to the surface, where they 

 are exposed to the action of the weather and are greedily eaten by birds. The harrow 

 can bo used on all beaten roadsides and yards where the land is too compact to be well 

 plowed. A few days thus spent by the farmer in using the plow and harrow will avoid 

 much serious troiible and loss the following spring. 



3. Burning. — This means was resorted to in different localities with some degree of 

 success. One method of burning was to drive the locusts into the belts of dry grass 

 around the fields, which were then fired, and thus many of the young insects were killed. 

 Another and more effective method was to place narrow windrows of straw through 

 the field, three or four rods apart. The locusts sought the straw for shelter during the 

 night, and were then burned in great numbers. More straw was then placed ux)on the 

 burned strips, and the process was repeated. The burned locusts are of a peculiar 

 deep-red color, reminding one of boiled lobsters. The birds are said to have a special 

 fondness for " roast 'hopper." 



4. Ditching. — This was not very extensively tried in Kansas. Some farmers seemed 

 to be entirely ignorant of the principles t f ditching. One ditch, if it could be so called, 

 was made by running a furrow near the edge of the wheat-field, and then returning in 

 the same furrow, throwing the dirt the other way. This, of course, offered no impedi- 

 ment to the young locusts. Another ditch was about six inches deep and two or two 

 and a half feet wide. This latter was equally ineffective, as any locust, however young, 

 can easily leap a wall more than six inches high, if it is allowed two feet of " elbow 

 room." 



5. Coal-oil. — This has proved the most effectual remedy yet tried against the young 

 locust. Coal-oil was used very extensively n'ear Solomon City and Salina, where the 

 merchants furnished the oil to farmers for this purpose at cost. Many devices were 

 invented for its application. 



[Descriptions of the different pans and other contrivances used will be found in 

 Chapter 13 of the Report.] 



NATURAL ENEMIES. 



Weather and climate played a very important part in the destruction of the young 

 locusts as they hatched. The eggs passed through the winter and excessively wet spring 

 without any very great injury, the cold and wet seeming to have little effect whatever. 

 During the early spring the weather was very changeable, a few warm, dry days bring- 

 ing forth the young in abundance, to be followed by cold rains, checking their develop- 

 ment, and killing numbers. During the last of April and part of May, this destruction 

 kept pace with the hatching, so that at no time did the locusts appear to increase ma- 

 terially in numbers. After the warmer weather of spring and summer began, the locusts 



