156 The Rocky Mountain Locust. 



It is beneficial in proportion as it is delayed, because the \ 

 locusts, as they develop, disperse more and more from tl 

 their hatching grounds into the prairie. 



In Colorado, machines for burning have been used to o 

 good advantage. Mr. J. Hetzel, of Longmont, uses a \ 

 burner drawn by horses. It is twelve feet long, two to \ 

 two and one-half feet wide, made of iron, and set on run- t 

 ners four inches high. An open grate on the top of the run- < 

 ners is filled with pitch-pine wood, and a metal sheet covers ] 

 the grate to keep the heat down. The grate is generally 

 made with a network of heavy wire, such as telegraph- 

 wire. Two men and a team will burn ten to twelve acres 

 a day, and kill two-thirds of the insects, but it requires a 

 hot fire. Mr. C. O. Horner gives, in the Colorado Farmer, 

 the following more detailed description of a machine 

 which works on the same principle : 



It consists of three runners made of 2 x 4 scantling three feet in 

 length, to be placed six feet apart, making the machine twelve feet 

 wide ; runners to be bound together by three flat straps or bars of 

 iron (the base being twelve feet long.) Across the top, bars of iron 

 hold the runners firmly together, and form a frame across which 

 wire can be worked, to make a grate to hold fire. The upper part 

 of the runners should be hollowed out so that the grate may slide 

 along within two inches of the ground. A sheet-iron arch should 

 be set over this grate to drive the heat downward. This machine 

 is very light, and can be worked with one horse. Pitch-wood is 

 best adapted to burning, and can be chopped the right length and 

 size and left in piles where most convenient when needed. This 

 machine is intended to be used when the little hoppers just make 

 their appearance along the edge of the grain, going over the 

 ground once or twice each day, or as often as necessary to keep 

 them killed off. The scorching does not kill the grain, but makes 

 it a few days later. This is certainly the cheapest as well as the 

 most effectual manner of getting rid of this pest. 



A hand burner, consisting of any form of pan or grate, 

 to hold combustible material, and attached to a handle, 

 will do excellent service in gardens and small enclosures. 



Long wire or iron rods, wrapped in rags saturated with 



