Jasper County Democrat, Volume 15, Number 43, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 August 1912 — DESTROYING GRASSHOPPERS [ARTICLE]

DESTROYING GRASSHOPPERS

Reply to Jacob Mathiason, Walnut Grove, Minn. "Please send me by nutil directions for killing grasshoppers." Before attempting to give a remedy I for the grasshopper plague, a few words in regard to its early stages of growth will not be out of place. In order for th&- grasshopper to multiply to any extent, the soil in which the eggs are laid must be undisturbed and there must be an abundance of food available. The most favorable condition for grasshopper development seems to be found in the alfalfa sections of the west. Where it is possible, one of the best preventive measures is to cultivate the ground. The soil need not be disturbed below’ the first two inches of surface, for most of the eggs are deposited very shallow. We fully realize that in many cases this cannot be done so as to completely destroy the grasshopper, but where it is possible to plow and cultivate in the fall, the number can be greatly decreased.

There are two ways of destroying I the adult or grown grasshopper. One I is by the use Of the hopper dozer. Various forms are in use, but one that has given very good satisfaction can be built of sheet iron, ten or twelve feet long, and about twenty-six Inches wide, with a hoard across the back, against which the grasshoppers will fly and then fall into the bottom of the hopper dozer. The bottom of the hopper dozer should be made water tight, so that a quantity of water may be poured into it, also a small quantity of kerosene. The hopper dozer should be mounted on low skids or small wheels and drawn by one or more horses. The grasshoppers will be collected in the hopper dozer and killed by coming In contact with the kerosene. This whole structure is rather inexpensive and has proved a very good method of destroying the grasshopper. The bureau of entomology of the United States Department of Agriculture has recommended a poisoned bait, which is known as the "criddle mixture,” and has given very good results in some sections. The mixture is made as follows: barrel fresh horse droppings, in which is mixed one pound each of salt aqd parts green. If the droppings are not fresh, the salt Is dissolved in water and mixed with the manure and poison. Then this mixture is scattered freely about, where the grasshoppers are abundant. Dr. Fletcher, entomologist for the Deminion of Canada, cites an instance where this poison mixture was scattered around a portion of the field, v.ith the result that this portion stayed green while the grasshoppers Seriously injured other parts of the same field The mixture been preferred to ether brands of poison because its effect on other forms i of . animal life is not so serious.