April, ’20] DEAN AND KELLY: GRASSHOPPER CONTROL ORGANIZATION 239 
this time there came an unusually hot Saturday, followed by a brisk 
wind on Sunday, and when the sun set on that memorable day, June 
29, Kansas had lost millions of bushels of wheat which was literally 
strewn on the ground. The wheat fields had the appearance of having 
been cut with a dull header. There were several counties in Kansas 
and Oklahoma injured in this manner. An official estimate of loss in 
one county (Ford County) was one and one-half million bushels of 
grain, or more than three million dollars. Since the sudden ripening of 
wheat precipitated the hoppers into the oats and barley which were 
still green, another big loss was caused, and corn, alfalfa and sorghum 
were threatened. In the stricken counties the situation was recognized 
as alarming, and a hurry-up call for assistance came to the college. 
On July 15 a special conference of county agents was called at Dodge 
City. Twelve county agents from Kansas and two from Oklahoma 
met with Karl Knaus, County Agent Leader, and E. G. Kelly, Exten¬ 
sion Entomologist, for the purpose of drawing up plans for immediate 
action. The Kansas grasshopper law 1 made it possible for very quick 
action. According to the law, upon receiving “ a written request signed 
by not less than five township trustees of any county, or by a majority 
of the township trustees in counties having less than five townships in 
this state, the board of commissioners of that county shall provide for 
the purchase of a mixture containing Paris green, or other like poison, 
for the extermination of grasshoppers within its county, and shall 
make rules and regulations for the distribution and use thereof, and 
shall distribute the ingredients of such mixture to the township trustees 
of the various townships which may require the use of such mixture for 
the extermination of grasshoppers in their respective townships. In 
purchasing and preparing the ingredients of such mixture, the board of 
county commissioners and trustees of such township shall use the 
formula prescribed and recommended by the Kansas State Agricul¬ 
tural College or its experimental stations as far as practicable.’’ 
There were 28 counties in Kansas, and four in Oklahoma in which 
immediate action was to be taken. The arsenic, lemons, syrup and 
bran needed were estimated. Telegrams went out to dealers for 
information on supplies and quotations. By 6 p. m., July 16, the 
supplies were located and quotations furnished. A carload of white 
arsenic en route to a Kansas City commission firm from Utah was 
rerouted for Dodge City at Denver, Colorado. This was indeed 
fortunate for arsenic was the one article most needed and most difficult 
to procure. The other ingredients were closer at hand and readily 
accessible. 
1 Chapter 147, Session laws of 1917, as amended by House Bill No. 159, Session 
Laws of 1919. 
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