40 



has reached the height of three or four feet, sometimes ;is Lite as 

 the end of August. But if there is any point in the whole subject 

 where opinions seem to be unanimous, it is in regard to the value 

 of harrowing up the eggs in the fall, and exposing them to the' 

 influence of weather, birds and other enemies, [n this connection 

 the general harrowing of new breaking and plowing of roadsides 

 that has been done by many farmers, or by townships, cannot fail 

 to be of benefit. That this work should commence in our climate 

 as soon in the fall as there is any assurance that the egg-deposit is 

 ended, is evident from the consideration that the longer the egg is 

 exposed to the above mentioned influences the more sure its de- 

 struction is likely to become, and from the fact that in many 

 places the ground became frozen before the work of harrowing 

 was nearly finished. 



TUi: XKKD BOTH OF STATK ANTI) OK I N 1)1 V I !)K ,VL EXERTION". 



If will be fortunate if science and national discovery shall finally 

 be able to dispel for us some of the uncertainties which beset 

 the locust problem in general. Tt is the doubt in regard to the 

 future and the fear that each } r ear may prove more disastrous tlwi'n 

 its predecessor, that give the evil more than its real magnitude and 

 paralyze hands that are not otherwise accustomed to refuse labor. 

 To simplify the conditions of the problem as far as possible, to 

 determine how far the goings and comings of a fitful insect hurry- 

 ing destructively over thousands of miles of grain fields, and 

 sowing everywhere the seeds of future devastation, may be fore- 

 seen or prevented, is an object worthy of the highest science and 

 the most liberal enterprise. But the help that can come from 

 any such source must necessarily be long in action and slow in 

 results. With all our uncertainties, we have one certainty before 

 us in the immediate future; it is that of a great and wide spread 

 injury which only prompt, efficient, concerted and continued 

 effort can remedy. We cannot offer to do less than to render at 

 once by ourselves and to ourselves a portion of that help which 

 we ask a broader knowledge and enlarged means to render unnec- 

 essary in the future. The state of Minnesota has already taken 

 the lead in the proposal of a conference upon the locust subject, 

 which, if the results compared in any fair measure to the objects 

 proposed, will end in more definite knowledge and more efficient 

 action throughout all the region that has been overrun for so many 

 years. The state may fitly supplement the action of the confer- 

 ence by determining once for all just what can be done with the 



