
CAPABILITIES WITH REFERENCE TO SETTLEMENT. ~ 809 
difficulty—supposing the existence of proper fire-guards, as above sug- 
gested—in producing within a few days a belt of black country 100 miles 
wide, altogether beyond the present limits of the Province of Manitoba. 
726. When a horde of winged locusts comes down on the settlements, 
comparatively little can be done to prevent the destruction of the crops. 
Swarm follows swarm, often for days together, and eventually overbear 
resistance. By the use of smoke, which is allowed to drift across the 
fields from smothered fires or ‘smudges,’ many of the insects may be 
prevented from alighting. In southern Minnesota, a process called 
roping’ the grain has been attended with considerable success. A horse 
being fastened to each end of the rope, it is dragged to and fro across the 
field, brushing the insects from the stalks, and often causing them at last 
to fly off. They may also be caught in great numbers in scoop-nets and 
bags, especially when somewhat torpid, in the evenings and mornings; 
and where the area affected is limited, this may be usefully employed. 
727. Whenever the grass-hoppers have deposited their eggs, atten- 
tion should be turned to these. The method of destruction which seems 
to have been found most successful in the Western States, and else- 
where, is fall ploughing. The egg-tubes are thus deranged, and most 
of them buried by so deep a layer of earth, that they either do not 
come to life at all in the succeeding spring; or hatch so late, and in 
such small numbers, that they do comparatively little injury to the 
crops. This also allows early spring sowing, and gives the grain time to 
attain some growth before the young locusts come down on‘it. This 
ploughing should extend, as Mr. Taylor has shown, to roads and other 
bare spots where great quantities of eggs have been laid. Of more lim- 
ited applicability is the collection of the eggs by hand, as practised in 
different parts of the old world.* The inhabitants, armed with sharpened 
sticks or hoes, go out together to the spots where the eggs are known to 
be most abundant, and receive a government bounty by measure for the 
eggs collected. In a country where the settled area is quite small, in com- 
parison to that lying waste, this would probably have little result, 
except in cases where the deposit of eggs was confined to a somewhat 
limited area, when its vigorous adoption might not only save the crops 
of the immediate vicinity, but those of other localities which the grass- 
hoppers might visit, when afterwards taking flight. 
728. Inspring, the war should be continued, and as soon as the young 

* See the translation of an essay by V. Motchulsky, in the Smithsonian Report, 1858. Many plans of 
destruction of locusts are here mentioned, and statistics, &c., concerning them given, 
