

13 



of at different times and by many of the planters as a means of partial 

 protection to the crops. 



It is sometimes quite a difficult matter to account for the rapid in- 

 crease of certain insects during a series of seasons that for years before 

 have scarcely appeared in numbers sufficient to be noticed. However 

 true this assertion may be, I think the rapid increase in the present in- 

 stance can be readily accounted for, and has its direct causes partly in 

 the negligence of the planters over the area now suffering and partly 

 through other and indirect but favoring circumstances. It has already 

 been ascertained that all of the species which are combining in the 

 present injury are partial to rank vegetation, and find the most favor- 

 able conditions for their egg-laying and subsequent development in the 

 waste land at the borders of cultivated fields, in ravines which run 

 through cultivated ground, and in neglected grounds which were at one 

 time under the plow. Everywhere in this locust area do we find great 

 neglect in this respect. There are not only large fields lying idle which 

 were once cultivated in cotton, but also wide borders adjacent to ra- 

 vines and gullies which have been permitted to grow up in bunch 

 grasses and weeds. Each of these features is of too common recurrence r 

 thus giving this and other insects of like nature ample harbor and room 

 for multiplication year after year. This is the prime cause, but from 

 inquiry it cannot be disputed that there are several other agencies 

 which have aided in bringing about the present state of affairs. These 

 are, primarily, the comparative scarcity of insectivorous birds, and sec- 

 ondarily the comparatively dry summers for the past three years. 

 While the bird question cannot easily be remedied at once, or the sea- 

 sons changed so as not to favor the increasing hoppers, there can be a 

 great deal accomplished by clearing up these waste places and putting 

 them once more under the plow. The dry seasons have aided the in- 

 crease of the locusts by diminishing their natural enemies. These are 

 chiefly soft-bodied insects, very delicate in structure, that are dependent 

 to a much greater extent than the locust is on moisture for their de- 

 velopment and subsequent career. It stands to reason, therefore, that 

 dry seasons, while not materially affecting the more hardy nature of 

 the locusts, are very injurious, if not altogether fatal, to insects whose 

 organs are so delicate as are most of these parasitic forms. 



dp to the present season but little or nothing has been done by the 

 planters to protect their crops from the ravages of these locusts or 

 towards diminishing their numbers. True, some of them tried to save 

 their crops by driving the locusts off after they were fully matured and 

 could fly. While this remedy will sometimes save a portion of a crop, 

 it is only transient in its result, and must be repeated each day several 

 times. It is also a remedy that works better with the migratory spe- 

 cies than with the non-migratory forms that seldom fly more than a 

 few yards at a time. To save crops from locust ravages the main ob- 

 ject to be kept in view is, or rather should be, the destruction of the 



