35 



swarms of spretus which had entered in the fall of 1897, supposedly 

 then from the Turtle Mountain region, had prospered well. The pres- 

 ent year, however, there was an unusually heavy precipitation in June, 

 but this came so late that, although it did not affect the earlier-hatching 

 spretus, still most of the late-hatching species were destroyed. It was 

 easily noticed that the ordinary species of the plains were remarkably 

 scarce and, until a colony of spretus or the form of atlanis which 

 appears there was reached, grasshoppers of all kinds were almost 

 entirely absent. Melanophts spretus, M. bivittatus, and M. packardi 

 were the only destructive species present in numbers sufficient to 

 attract attention. 



In North Dakota, as was predicted last year, spretus occurred most 

 notably at New Rockford, where, approximately, the same area that 

 suffered then was affected. There is in force in North Dakota an 

 excellent locust law. It provides that upon notification by the county 

 commissioners any farmer upon whose place grasshoppers have deposited 

 eggs shall plow all summer-fallow and open stubble fields within a cer- 

 tain time. If this is not done the plowing takes place at the expense 

 of the county and the charges are assessed against the property as 

 taxes. Working under this provision most of the young locusts in 

 the vicinity of New liockford were plowed under, as many as twenty- 

 seven gang plows working together, and working on Sunday when the 

 need was urgent. It may be confidently stated that the trouble at that 

 place is almost passed. 



Along the southeastern slopes of the Turtle Mountains, however, there 

 is a fresh invasion of considerably smaller extent but which, consider- 

 ing the territory affected, is rather serious. At several points between 

 Dunseith and Kolla some little damage was done by spretus, and at one 

 point about 2 miles to the east of the .last named place the situation 

 was indeed critical. In June a formidable number of locusts appeared 

 from eggs deposited in the fall by parents that had passed the year in 

 that same place. Several acres of wheat were destroyed; and in gen- 

 eral this swarm, which to all intents was simply a part of the swarm 

 that was divided in alighting by the Turtle Mountains in 1897, was more 

 destructive than in Manitoba. The total area affected might be 

 included in a quadrangle 10 miles long and 5 wide between Dunseith 

 and Rolla; but within this area only isolated fields, often at consider- 

 able distance from one another, were infested. The most damaged 

 field was one of about 10 acres, in which the locusts had begun to feed 

 only after the heads were quite well formed. These were quite dry 

 and consequently the insects fed upon the green part of the stalk just 

 below, causing the heads to fall to the ground and the field was ruined. 



Invariably, when looking for locusts in that region, I would ask to 

 be shown where last year there was a field left in summer-fallow, and 

 very uniformly in that immediate vicinity the insects in greatest num- 

 bers would be found. By plowing or thoroughly cross-harrowing these 

 and the stubble fields in September, there is no reason why the pests, 



