BULLETIN NO. 1 SECOND EDITION. 7 



been many forms of these machines, but all on the same general prin- 

 ciple. 



In Colorado, also, machines have been used to good advantage, most 

 of them having for their object the burning of the young insects. Mr. 

 J. Hetzel, of Longmont, uses a burner drawn by horses. It is 12 feet 

 long, 2 to 2J feet wide, and made of iron, set on runners 4 inches high. 

 An open grate on the top of the runners is filled with pitch-pine wood, 

 and a sheet covers the grate to keep the heat down. The grate is gen- 

 erally made with a net- work of heavy wire, such as telegraph-wire. Two 

 men and a team will burn 10 to 12 acres a day, and kill two-thirds of 

 the insects, but it requires a hot fire. Mr. G. 0. Horner gives in the 

 Colorado Fanner the following more detailed description of a machine 

 which works on the same principle : 



It consists of three runners made of 2 X 4 scantling 3 feet in length, to be placed 6 

 feet apart, making the machine 12 feet wide, runners to be bound together by three fiat 

 straps or bars of iron (the base being 12 feet long). Across the top, bars of iron hold 

 the runners firmly together and form a frame across which wire can be worked, to make 

 a grate to hold fire. The upper part of the runners should be hollowed out so that the 

 grate may slide along within 2 inches of the ground. A sheet-iron arch should be set 

 over this grate to drive the heat downward. This machine is very light, and can be 

 worked with one horse. Pitch-wood is best adapted to burning, and can be chopped 

 the right length and size and left in piles where most convenient when needed. This 

 machine is intended to be used when the little 'hoppers just make their appearance 

 along the edge of the grain, going over the ground once or twice each day, or as often 

 as necessary to keep them killed off. The scorching does not kill the grain, but makes 

 it a few days later. This is certainly the cheapest manner of getting rid of this pest, 

 as well as the most effectual. 



Mr. Rufus Clark, of Denver, according to the same paper, uses a piece 

 of oil-cloth 9 to 12 feet long and 6 feet wide. One side and each end are 

 secured to light wooden strips by common carpet-tacks, and the corners 

 strengthened by braces. The oil-cloth is smeared with coal-tar, pur- 

 chased at the Denver gas-works for $7.50 per barrel, and the trap is 

 dragged over the ground by two men, a cord about 10 feet long being 

 fastened to the front corners for that purpose. The entire expense of the 

 " trap " is about 83.50, and as it is light and easily handled, will be found 

 serviceable on small as well as large farms. Zinc, instead of oil-cloth, 

 has also been used for the same purpose. 



When the insects are famishing, it is useless to try and protect plants 

 by any application whatever, though spraying them with a mixture of 

 kerosene and warm water is the best protection we have tried, and will 

 measurably answer when the insects are not too numerous or ravenous. 



The best means of protecting fruit and shade trees deserves separate 

 consideration. Where the trunks are smooth and perpendicular they 

 may be protected by whitewashing. The lime crumbles under the feet of 

 the insects as they attempt to climb, and prevents their getting up. By 

 their persistent efforts, however, they gradually wear off the lime and 

 reach a higher point each day, so that the whitewashing must be often 

 repeated. Trees with short, rough trunks, or which lean, are not very 

 well protected in this way. A strip of smooth, bright tin answers even 

 better for the same purpose. A strip 3 or 4 inches wide brought around 

 and tacked to a smooth tree will protect it, while on rougher trees a 

 piece of old rope may first be tacked around the tree and the tin tacked 

 to it, so as to leave a portion both above and below. Passages between 

 the tin and rope or the rope and tree can then be blocked by filling the 

 upper area between tin and tree with earth. The tin must be high 

 enough from the ground to prevent the 'hoppers from jumping from the 

 latter beyond it, and the trunk below the tin, where the insects collect, 

 should be covered with some coal-tar or poisonous substances to prevent 



