8 
girdliug. This is more especially necessary with small trees, ami kero- 
sene or whitewash having Paris green mixed with it will answer as such 
preventives. 
One of the cheapest and simplest modes is to encircle the tree with 
cotton batting, in which the insects will entangle their feet, and thus 
be more or less obstructed. Strips of paper covered with tar, stiff paper 
tied on so as to slope roof-fashion, strips of glazed wall-paper, and 
thick coatings of soft soap, have been used with varying success ; but 
no estoppel equals the bright tin. The others require constant watching 
and renewal, and in all cases coming under our observation some insects 
would get into the trees, so as to require the daily shaking of these 
morning and evening. This will sometimes have to be done, when the 
bulk of the insects have become Hedged, even where tin is used, for a 
certain proportion of the insects will then fly into the trees. They do 
most damage during the night, and care should be had that the trees be 
unloaded of their voracious freight just before dark. 
Most cultivated plants may be measurably protected from the rav- 
ages of these young by good cultivation and a constant stirring of 
the soil. The young have an antipathy to a loose and friable surface, 
which incommodes them and hinders their progress, and they will often 
leave such a surface for one more hard and firm. 
Fiually, though insisting on ditching and the digging of pits as, all 
things considered, the best and most reliable insurance against the rav- 
ages of the young locusts, we would urge our farmers to rely not on these 
means alone, but to eniploy all tbe other means recommended, accord- 
lug as convenience and opportunity suggest. 
Another method of destroying the young has been proposed and to a 
certain extent adopted. It promises, if carried out effectually, to be of 
much advantage. It is to protect the prairie-grass from fires until 
spring, and, after the bulk of the eggs are hatched, to simultaneously 
burn over the entire neighborhood, township, or county, or as far as the 
combination may extend. This requires concerted action and consider- 
able watchfulness, but if carried out rigidly will destroy a very large 
number of insects, and has the advantage of being inexpensive. It is 
inapplicable on tbe cultivated grounds, but applies to the areas where 
the other measures are least effective. 
i^ATURAL MEANS. 
One of the most effectual means of destroying the young locusts, and 
one which is too often overlooked because its effects are not so directly 
apparent, is the preservation and multiplication of the native birds. 
Without undertaking at this time to specify the species which should 
be especially protected, and about which there is yet some difference of 
opinion, we feel warranted in stating that until the useless species in 
this respect are distinguished from those that are beneficial, it is best to 
protect all insect-eating birds, and if the laws of the State are insuffi- 
cient for this purpose, let communities, townships, and counties use all 
their lawful powers therefor. 
Chickens, turkeys, and hogs devour locusts in immense quantities, and 
thrive during years of locust invasion or whenever these insects abound. 
Prairie-chickens and quails devour them with avidity^ and eveu hunt 
for their eggs ; swallows and blackbirds pursue them unrelentingly; the 
little snow-birds devour great quantities of eggs when these are brought 
to the surface by the freezing and thawing of the ground, and the same 
may be said of almost all birds inhabiting the western country in winter. 
The good offices of birds were everywhere noticed in 1875. Prof. F. 
H. Snow, of Lawrence, Kans., found the young locusts in the gizzards 
