REPORTS OF OBSERVATION- AND "EXPERIMENTS. 11 



trees was greatly felt by the settlers who happened to lose by their 

 attacks. One orchard alone is reported to have Buffered to the extent 

 of 125,000. Thatthis estimate was none too great I can attest from 

 personally having visited and examined it. Tin- orchard in question is 

 of 80 acres in extent and composed of thrifty trees, all of bearing 

 size. Fully one-half of the trees were destroyed by the locusts, which 

 came by the million- from adjoining fields of alfalfa. They ate off the 

 leaves and even stripped the -mailer twigs of their bark. A great 

 many other orchards were more or less completely destroyed by the 

 pest last year. Even with all this amount of injury going on about 

 them, the inhabitants did but little toward protecting themselves, and 

 what little righting they did do was undertaken SO late in the year that 

 it did comparatively little good even in the line of preventing • __ '-pos- 

 iting. The warfare did not begin until after the 'hopper- had attained 

 their wings aud were spreading out over the region preparatory to 

 laying. At this time they had mostly left the fields of alfalfa and grain 

 and were nearly all in the trees composing the various orchards of the 

 region. Here they remained upon the twigs and branches, feeding upon 

 the leaves and tender bark of the new growth. In this situation it was 

 next to impossible to dislodge them or get at them with a remedy. 

 Some bran and arsenic was used by a few of the settlers in fighting the 

 pest, but this was handled so carelessly in many instances that not 

 only were domestic fowls and an occasional larger animal destroyed, 

 bnt also nearly all of the native birds of the region that occasionally 

 add to their insect dnt other food were killed. In fact, the only g 

 feature connected with the use of the bran-arsenic remedy in this par- 

 ticular instance was the destruction of many rabbits, These latter 

 were killed by the hundreds and pretty well exterminated in the imme- 

 diate vicinity of the orchards where the remedy was us 



The present year, the fourth in which these insects have been | 

 ent in this region, I chanced to visit the locality about a week b< 

 the mass of 'hoppers had attained their growth. I was therefore in 

 time to do some good for the residents by suggesting and showing them 

 a more profitable and. at the same time, practical method of warfare 

 suitable to the particular occasion, viz, the •• hopper-dozer," or keros 

 pan. It was ascertained that the majority of the insects were still 

 confined to tin- edges of alfalfa and grain fields, or else were to be found 

 amongst the rank vegetation growing along the edges of irrigating 

 ditchesand over such ground- more or less frequently watered by 



the waste from these ditches. In such localities it was seen that the most 

 practical remedy that could be employed at this time was the " do/. 

 Accordingly several of these machines were ordered made, and meet- 

 ings of the fanner.- and fruit-growers and other interested parties called 

 for the purpose of discussing the subject preparatory to attacking the 

 foe. At these mee _-. held in both Grand Junction and Fruita, 

 addresses were delivered outlining the various methods that have 



