8 UNITED STATES ENTOMOLOGICAL COMMISSION. 



girdling. This is more especially necessary with small trees, and coal- 

 tar or whitewash having Paris green mixed with it will answer as such 

 preventives. 



One of the cheapest and simplest modes is to encircle the tree with 

 cotton batting, in which the insects will entangle their feet, and thus 

 be more or less obstructed. Strips of paper covered with tar, stiff paper 

 tied on so as to slope roof-fashion, strips of glazed wall-paper, and 

 thick coatings of soft soap, have been used withvaryin g success ; but 

 no estoppel equals the bright tin. The others require constant watching 

 and renewal, and in all cases coming under our observation some insects 

 would get into the trees, so as to require the daily shaking of these 

 morning and evening. This will sometimes have to be done, when the 

 bulk of the insects have become fledged, even where tin is used, for a 

 certain proportion of the insects will then fly into the trees. They do 

 most damage during the night, and care should be had that the trees be 

 unloaded of their voracious freight just before dark. 



Most cultivated plants may be measurably protected from the rav- 

 ages of these young by good cultivation and a constant stirring of the 

 soil. The young have an antipathy to a loose and friable surface, 

 which incommodes them and hinders their progress, and they will often 

 leave such a surface for one more hard and firm. 



Finally, though insisting on ditching and the digging of pits as, all 

 things considered, the best and most reliable insurance against the rav- 

 ages of the young locusts, we would urge our farmers to rely not on these 

 means alone, but to employ all the other means recommended, accord- 

 ing as convenience and opportunity suggest. 



Another method of destroying the young has been proposed and to a 

 certain extent adopted. It promises, if carried out effectually, to be of 

 much advantage. It is to protect the prairie-grass from fires until 

 spring, and, after the bulk of the eggs are hatched, to simultaneously 

 burn over the entire neighborhood, township, or county, or as far as the 

 combination may extend. This requires concerted action and consider- 

 able watchfulness, but if carried out rigidly will destroy a very large 

 number of insects, and has the advantage of being inexpensive. It is 

 inapplicable on the cultivated grounds, but applies to the areas where 

 the other measures are least effective. 



NATUBAL MEANS. 



One of the most effectual means of destroying the young locusts, and 

 one which is too often overlooked because its effects are not so directly 

 apparent, is the preservation and multiplication of the native birds. 

 Without undertaking at this time to specify the species which should 

 be especially protected, and about which there is yet some difference of 

 opinion, we feel warranted in stating that until the useless species in 

 this respect are distinguished from those that are beneficial, it is best to 

 protect all insect-eating birds, and if the laws of the State are insuffi- 

 cient for this purpose, let communities, townships, and counties use all 

 their lawful powers therefor. 



Chickens, turkeys, and hogs devour locusts in immense quantities, and 

 thrive during years of locust invasion or whenever these insects abound. 

 Prairie-chickens and quails devour them with avidity, and even hunt 

 for their eggs ; swallows and blackbirds pursue them unrelentingly ; the 

 little snow-birds devour great quantities of eggs when these are brought 

 to the surface by the freezing and thawing of the ground, and the same 

 may be said of almost all birds inhabiting the western country in winter. 



The good offices of birds were everywhere noticed in 1875. Prof. F. 

 H. Snow, of Lawrence, Kans., found the young locusts in the gizzards 



