14 UNITED STATES ENTOMOLOGICAL COMMISSION. ' 



from which the locusts may be driven, or will of themselves pass for 

 the shelter the prairie affords. 



When a wheat field is attacked by the young in their usual method 

 of commencing on one side and eating somewhat regularly across it, 

 many may be destroyed by spreading straw over them in the evening 

 about the time they cease eating. They will collect upon this, and if it 

 is fired very early in the morning many will be destroyed before they 

 commence moving. 



The burning of extensive prairies after the bulk of the locusts hatch 

 destroys the nests and eggs of some game birds which feed upon the 

 locusts, but the birds themselves always escape and nest again; whereas 

 many noxious insects, like the chinch bug, are killed;- so that, even 

 leaving the locust question out of consideration, the burning would yet 

 prove advantageous to man. 



2. Crushing. — Can be resorted to with advantage only in exceptional 

 cases, where the ground is smooth and hard. 



3. Trapping.— This is very effectual, especially when the insects are 

 making their way into a field from roads and hedge-sides. The use of 

 converging nets, as described on page 6, is important in this connection. 



Ditching or trenching will come under this head ; and after the insects 

 have commenced to travel in schools, proper ditching is the most effectual 

 protection, as recommended on page 5. 



There will be much premature judgment passed upon ditching, by 

 those who employ it against the very small and newly-hatched locusts 

 which more easily crawl up a perpendicular bank than the larger ones; 

 but we speak from past experience, and would urge all who are threat- 

 ened, to employ this mode of protection from now on. 



Where the soil is tenacious, and water or a little kerosene can be used 

 at the bottom, all the better; and the side to the garden, orchard, nurs- 

 ery or field to be protected should be kept friable by means of a fine 

 rake. In proportion as the soil is loose and apt to fill up by strong 

 winds, ditching will fail. 



4. Catching. — There are innumerable mechanical contrivances for this 

 purpose. Many useful designs have already been submitted to the Com- 

 mission. The cheapest and most satisfactory are those intended to bag 

 the insects. A frame two feet high and of varying length, according as 

 it is to be drawn by men or horses, with a bag of sheeting tapering be- 

 hind and ending in a small bag or tube, say one foot in diameter and 

 two or three feet long, with a fine wire door at the end to admit the light 

 and permit the dumping of the insects, will do admirable work. The 

 insects gravitate toward the wire screen, and when the secondary bag is 

 full they may be emptied into a pit dug for the purpose. These bagging- 

 machines will prove most serviceable when grain is too high for the 

 kerosene pans, presently to be described. 



A curious suction-fanning machine has been invented by Mr. J. C. 

 King, of Boulder, Colo., and may be mentioned in this connection. A 

 strong draft sucks the insects up through an elongate mouth with lips 

 that run near the ground, and draws them up through two funnels and 

 knocks them to pieces. We have seen the working of that in Mr. T. C. 

 Henry's possession at Abilene, Kans. It is an admirable invention, and 

 may be improved so as to be of great service ; but on account of its 

 expense will scarcely compete with the more simple methods. 



5. Use of destructive agents. — Kerosene is the most effective. It may 

 be used in any of its cruder forms. In Colorado they use it to good 

 advantage on the water in their irrigating-ditches, and it may be used 

 anywhere in pans or in saturated cloths, stretched on frames, drawn 



