69 



acres of grass and were at the time of examination working in the oats. 

 Mr. Wright stated that the locust had not been previously very abun- 

 dant there since 1884 and 1885, when a number of bushels had been 

 caught. 



A number of farms in the neighborhood of the Webster place were 

 also examined, and the farms of Mr. Gordon Burleigh and Mr. Benjamin 

 Hancock were found to be somewhat thickly stocked with locusts, and 

 the grass had been considerably injured. 



Mr. Geo. B. Mathews, of the same place, a very intelligent farmer, 

 assured me that the locusts could be easily controlled, and that he was 

 not troubled at all exGept as they drifted onto his land from the farms 

 adjoining. He had used the "hopperdoser" with good success in 1881 

 and 1885, and since theu, by carefully noticing the breeding ground of 

 the locusts and plowing the young uuder in the spring, he had succeeded 

 in reducing their numbers to a minimum, with very little loss to himself. 

 He was of the opinion that an officer empowered to compel the plowing of 

 the infested fields at the proper time, with perhaps a compensation to 

 the farmer for the crop turned under, would be the only practical solu- 

 tion of the locust trouble. 



While investigating the locusts about Franklin, reports came to me 

 of the serious depredations of this pest on the Connecticut River, near 

 Bellows Falls, Vt., and at the direction of the Secretary of Agri : 

 culture this locality was visited and the following' data collected. 



The occurrence of the locusts here is especially noteworthy because 

 it illustrates most pointedly the local habits of Atlanis already de- 

 scribed. 



In answer to inquiries made at various points from Hanover to Bel- 

 lows Falls, I was informed by various parties and particularly by 

 Professor Whicher, Director of the New Hampshire Experiment Sta- 

 tion, at Hanover, that the locusts were not known to be abundant 

 elsewhere on the river. 



The infested area proved to be an intervale of about 500 acres extent, 

 similar to those of the Merrimac Valley, and contained the farms of 

 Mr. Marvin W. Davis, member of the State Board of Agriculture, and 

 of Mr. R. H. Blair. Both of these gentlemen were seen, and to the 

 former, on whose farm the locusts were especially abundant, I am in- 

 debted in part for the following facts : 



The locusts were first noticed in this valley some fifteen years since, 

 when they ruined the tobacco crop by eating the leaves of the young 

 plants full of holes. Their attacks at that time and afterwards were so 

 severe that the growth of this crop was abandoned. The locusts have 

 increased from year to year, and the present has witnessed them more 

 abundantly than ever before ; the fences and roads being reported as 

 black with them as they moved from the hatching-grounds to other 

 fields. 



Grasses and oats, young corn and garden vegetables, even the onions, 

 were eaten. 



