42 



» 



none too great a price per bushel for locusts immediately after 

 hatching, it is certain that in a very few days a much smaller 

 amount would more than equal it. 



By referring to the experience of Mr. Andrew Webster, already 

 given, it will be seen that from the 1.1th of June to the first of 

 July, even ten cents per bushel would have been a paying bounty, 

 when added to the crop that was saved by the exertions made in 

 catching. With the improved machines and contrivances for cap- 

 turing that are being brought forward at this date (.Ian. 30, 1877) 

 it is certain that the state need not offer a larger bounty, at the 

 utmost, than ten cents per bushel after the tenth of June. If the 

 locusts exist in sufficient numbers to do great injury after that 

 date, a few cents per bushel added by counties, or by towns, to the 

 amount given above, will make a bounty that will amply repay la- 

 bor, to say nothing of the saving in crops. It would be also an 

 improvement, both in convenience and exactness, if a bounty were 

 offered per pound, instead of per bushel. It is no pleasant matter 

 to measure a few bushels of locusts that have been standing for a 

 day or two under a hot June sun, and the hurry of an unpleasant 

 task may be a cause of inaccuracy in measurement; but the meas 

 ure in pounds of almost any quantity of dead locusts can be ob- 

 tained at once, with ease and accuracy. 



CONCLUSION. 



In conclusion it remains to thank the many persons, both known 

 and unknown to me, who have so kindly replied to my circulars 

 and letters- of inquiry during the season. The writers are so 

 many that it is impossible to name them, but they have helped 

 greatly to give this report whatever value it may have. This 

 value must necessarily appear different to different readers ; many 

 will miss what they expected to find, or find what may appear of 

 comparative little value. But I have endeavored to compile from 

 all available sources what might be of benefit to our citizens and 

 at the same time worthy of appearance in a report upon the Nat- 

 ural History of the State ; I have tried to show not only the 

 requirements of the present year in meeting the locust evil as we 

 find it upon us now, but also the connection between one year 

 and another. But whatever the value of the report may be, the 

 State should provide fitting means for the continuance of similar 

 (or better) efforts during the year 1877. Not only is an enterprise 

 of this sort, if properly conducted, always a worthy one in any 

 State which labors under an evil of such magnitude, but the help 



