13 
of at different times and by many of the planters as a means of partial 
protection to the crops. 
It is sometimes quite a difficult matter to account for the rapid in- 
crease of certain insects during a series of seasons that for years before 
have scarcely appeared in numbers sufficient to be noticed. However 
true this assertion may be, I think the rapid increase in the present in- 
stance can be readily accounted for, and has its direct causes partly in 
the negligence of the planters over the area now suffering and partly 
through other and indirect but favoring circumstances. It has already 
been ascertained that all of the species which are combining in the 
present injury are partial to rank vegetation, and find the most favor- 
able conditions for their egg-laying and subsequent development in the 
waste land at the borders of cultivated fields, in ravines which run 
through cultivated ground, and in neglected grounds which were at one 
time under the plow. Everywhere in this locust area do we find great 
neglect in this respect. There are not only large fields lying idle which 
were once cultivated in cotton, but also wide borders adjacent to ra- 
vines and gullies which have been permitted to grow up in bunch 
grasses and weeds. Each of these featuresis of too common recurrence, 
thus giving this and other insects of like nature ample harbor and room 
for multiplication year after year. This is the prime cause, but from 
inquiry it cannot be disputed that there are several other agencies 
which have aided in bringing about the present state of affairs. These 
are, primarily, the comparative scarcity of insectivorous birds, and sec- 
ondarily the comparatively dry summers for the past three years. 
While the bird question cannot easily be remedied at once, or the sea- 
sons changed so as not to favor the increasing hoppers, there can be a 
great deal accomplished by clearing up these waste places and putting 
them once more under the plow. The dry seasons have aided the in- 
crease of the locusts by diminishing their natural enemies. These are 
chiefly soft-bodied insects, very delicate in structure, that are dependent 
to a much greater extent than the locust is on moisture for their de- 
velopment and subsequent career. It stands to reason, therefore, that 
dry seasons, while not materially affecting the more hardy nature of 
the locusts, are very injurious, if not altogether fatal, to insects whose 
organs are so delicate as are most of these parasitic forms. 
Up to the present season but little or nothing has been done by the 
planters to protect their crops from the ravages of these locusts or 
towards diminishing their numbers. True, some of them tried to save 
their crops by driving the locusts off after they were fully matured and 
could fly. While this remedy will sometimes save a portion of a crop, 
it is only transient in its result, and must be repeated each day several 
times. It is also a remedy that works better with the migratory spe- 
cies than with the non-migratory forms that seldom fly more than a 
few yards at a time. To save crops from locust ravages the main ob- 
ject to be kept in view is, or rather should be, the destruction of the 
