ESTRUCTION OF THE YOUNG OR UNFLEDGED 
LOCUSTS. 
ARTIFICIAL ME A In S. 
This bulletin may reach many farmers in the I^orthwest before the 
oeust eggs have all hatched. The onlj" feasible way of now destroy- 
ing these is to plow them deeply under where that is possible. The 
plowing \»ill be effectual according as the soil is porous or tenacious, 
and according as the surface is aftcricard compressed by liarroicing and 
rolling. All other things being equal, a plowing of ,1 to G inches 
will i)rove more effectual, if the ground be subsequently harrowed and 
rolled, than deeper plowing with no subsequent comminution and com- 
pression. We advise the farmers in the locust region to supply them- 
selves with early-ripening seed-corn, and to prepare to grow more 
leguminous and tuberous crops than is the custom. Bat as the principal 
struggle during the next two months will be with the young insects, we 
devote this bulletin more particularly to the best means of overcoming 
them. 
Heavy rolling, where the surface of the soil is sufficiently firm and 
even, destroys a large number of these newly-hatched young, but is 
most advantageously employed when they are most sluggish and inclined 
to huddle together, as during the first eight or ten days after hatching, 
and inthe mornings and evenings subsequently. They then drive almost 
as readily as sheep, and may be burned in large quantities by being 
driven into windrows or piles of burning hay or straw. They may also 
be killed with kerosene, and by means of flattened beating implements ; 
wooden shovels being extensively used for this purpose in Europe. 
But to protect the crops and do battle to these young locust armies, 
especially where, as was the case in much of the ravaged country ia 
1875, there is little or no hay or straw to burn, the best method is 
ditching. A ditch 2 feet wide and 2 feet deep, with perpendicular 
sides, offers an effect ual barrier to the young insects. They tumble into 
it and accumulate, and die at the bottom in large quantities. In a few 
days the stench becomes great, and necessitates the covering up of the 
mass. In order to keep the main ditch open, therefore, it is best to dig 
pits or deeper side ditches at short intervals, into which the 'hoppers 
will accumulate and may be buried. Made around a field about hatch- 
ing-time, few 'hoppers will get into that field till they acquire wings, 
and by that time the ])rincipal danger is over, and the insects are fast 
disappearing. If any should hatch within the inclosure, they are easily 
driven into the ditches dug in dilferent parts of the field. The direction 
of the apprehended approach of the insects being known from their 
hatching locality, ditching one or two sides next to such locality is 
generally sufficient, and when farmers joiu they can construct a long 
ditch which will protect many farms. 
We have not a doubt but that with proi)er and systematic ditching 
early in the season, when the insects first hatch, nearly everything can 
be saved. Where water can be let into the ditches so as to cover the 
bottom, they may be made shallower, and still be effective. 
