A HOPPERDOZER 
By P. K. Bunn 
Our native grasshoppers have been a common pest in the alfalfa 
fields for many years, principally infesting the edges of the fields, 
along side of dry ditch banks, fences, or other dry land, such 
locations affording their favorite breeding places. For several 
years it seems that the “hoppers” have been rapidly increasing. 
Their injuries to the hay crops, alfalfa seed and honey yield of the 
state amount each year to many thousands of dollars, beside the 
serious injuries to beets, beans, potatoes, cantaloupes and most 
other crops that may be growing adjacent to the field of alfalfa to 
which they are attracted each time after the hay is cut. 
The extent of their injuries the past season was unusually 
severe and quite general over the state. In the Arkansas Valley 
the alfalfa was almost stripped to stems in many fields, and the 
destruction of the bloom was so complete as to practically destroy 
the alfalfa seed crop east of Pueblo. The loss of the bloom also 
cut off the honey crop from one of the choicest honey producing 
sections of the United States, many of the apiarists being com¬ 
pelled to feed their bees during the summer months. Serious in¬ 
juries were also made on nearly all other crops by the grasshoppers 
from the alfalfa fields. The farmers resorted to spraying, driving 
and poisonous baits, as well as other precautionary measures, but 
with only meagre results. 
Having observed the shifting movements of the grasshoppers 
when the alfalfa is cut, it seemed evident that such a time offered 
a favorable opportunity to destroy the pest. It seemed that a 
hopperdozer could be used effectively behind the mower; accord¬ 
ingly a dozer was constructed on rather an inexpensive plan, one 
which any farmer with ordinary tools could make without the aid 
of a skilled mechanic. 
The bottom of the pan was a sheet of No. 24 galvanized iron 
30 x 96 inches, the size of sheets usually carried by hardware dealers. 
