28 REPORT UNITED STATES ENTOMOLOGICAL COMMISSION. 
is not likely to stop their progress; but if the Coteau of the Prairies is 
really a permanent breeding ground, whieh we are not yet fully pre- 
pared to affirm, clothing it with a forest growth would have a tendency 
to prevent them from using it for this purpose. 
We are inclined to believe that, aside from the improved means of 
destroying the young, and a system of farming least liable to suffer in- 
jury from the invading swarms, the chief hope of amelioration lies in 
the increase of the agricultural population and its gradual extension 
into Dakota. The railroads which are now pushing their way into this 
section, especially those leading into Southern Dakota, will aid greatly 
in bringing about this result. With the increase of population the de- 
struction of the young and of eggs will become more and more effectual. 
As Minnesota is well supplied with lakes and the supply of moisture 
ample, it is more than probable that it would be a wise policy for the 
farmers of the southwestern portion and also of the extreme southeast- 
ern part of Dakota to devote their lands and attention largely to graz- 
ing of cattle and sheep. This industry, as has been shown in our First 
Report, is not liable to the same injury from the locusts as are the grain 
■crops. But it is not hkely this will be adopted to any considerable ex- 
tent until the virgin freshness and strength of the soil is weakened by 
repeated wheat crops or wheat raising ceases from some cause to be 
remunerative. This State is well adapted to its production, and it is 
not only the most profitable crop at present, but is the money crop. 
The raising of wheat will, therefore, go on until it ceases to be as profit- 
able as it is now, in spite of locust raids and grasshopper devastations. 
We may repeat, therefore, in reference to the whole of the temporary 
region, that the " grasshopper scare " is over and past ; the tide of immi- 
gration thither is greater than ever before, and those who go now, go 
with their eyes fully opened to the difficulties with which they have to 
contend, so far as the locusts are concerned, and hence will not be driven 
back by this cause. Year by year, as the population increases, the 
power to contend with this evil increases. The cultivation of the soil, 
the planting of trees, the introduction of stock, such as hogs, the in- 
crease in domestic fowls, and the improvement in the means of destroy- 
ing the young, bring the evil more and more under control. There is, 
therefore, good reason for believing that the day is not far distant when 
the locust will be looked upon as no more injurious than the chinch-bug 
or cotton-worm, or perhaps as even less so. 
The work of the Commission, therefore, so far as it relates to the locust 
in the temporary region, may be considered as about completed. The 
great point left for us to determine is that which is chiefly discussed in 
the present report : Is it possible to exterminate the locusts in their 
native breeding grounds ? Lf not, how far and by what means is it pos- 
sible so to diminish their numbers as to render the migrating swarms 
comparatively innoxious ? 
General remarks. — It is held by many citizens of the districts subject 
