The anti-monopolist. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1874-1878, 1877-07-12
Practical Experience with Crasshoppers.
An interesting Letter.

Practical Experience with Crasshoppers.
An interesting Letter.
HARRISON. KANDIYOHI Co., MINI.
July l. 1877.
Hon. /. Donnelly
DEAR SIR: Your kind letter of the
oath ult. received, for which please
accept my thanks. Judging from
the experience which [ have had
with the locust this year,I shall never
think Of sowing grain on locusts eggs,
where they are thickly deposited.
The best way Of fighting them is to
make one side of a ditch about Is
inches high all around your field.
Then making post holes about every
rod in the bottom Of the ditch. TO
do it rapidly you can use subsoll
plough and scraper. The locusts
when comig to this l0inch perpendic-
ular wall will follow alongiits base and
fall into the holes. When quite young
they will crawl up the side into the
field if not killed. They will gather
in the ditch in the middle Of the day
and can be easily destroyed by burning
with straw or hay. What hatch out
in the fields can be most easily caught
and destroyed when young with sheet
iron pans tared. The choppers that
caused the damage in this section
were Matched outside Of the fields.
Ploughing under the eggs is a very
sure way of preventing their Matching.
Road breaking, stubble lands and
meadowes should be ploughed UP
after the eggs are deposited. II they
can be kept out of the fields until they
get their wings, the crops are safe
from them, for they Immediately fly
away. They began flying here the
Goth Of June and are still flying.
The people in this section all fought
the locust, faithfully but they were
all inexperienced and did not under.
stand the most successful ways OF
fighting them. If they had received
a small bounty they would have con
tinued fighting after their crops were
taken and would have prevented in Z
measure the spread of this terrible
plague. Ifthey continue to increase
in numbers the government should
without any further delay take steps
to destroy them; money must be ap
propriated by the million, and me1
sent into the locust regions to figh1
them. The theory of Prof. Rile.
that they return to their old Matching
grounds I take no stock in. If the.
have been with us four years, the,
are likely to remain longer unless
some enemy like the red parasite
destroys them. They fly with tn
wind every clear day. If the wind
are from the south east they 60 nortl
west and vice versa.
In this section they have take
every thing excepting(in very few
instances) small patch Of oats 0
wheat; there are also some peas AM
squashes left. The meadows ar
} seriously damaged but we are no,
having abundance of rain and we ma
get one half a crop. We are sowin
, Hungarian grass seed and plantin
corn for fodder. / am making garde
: for the third time, expect to rails
{ early kinds Of beets, cabbages, pees
e cucumbers, turnips sweet corn an
: potatoes. Iexpected a failure of th
/ crops and had laid by a little for
t rainy day but some Of my neighbol
t are not SO fortunate and must hay
e help; neighbor who has any thin
Y cannot see another one suffer for foe
and we shall probably live on shol
i rations for another year. There al
h a good many soldiers like myself hel
d and also old settlers who were drive
e away during the Sioux outbres
J. They all know what hard times a.
|. and can bear it like men. The gan
e of the country will be of great hel
l. good many are gathering wild her
n to sell. / know that you take gre
= interest in the agricultural class
II the state and that you are doing !;
e that lies in your power to help the
Q hence have given you all the fac
l. and details of our present conditio
If there is any item Of sufficient publ
importance to publish you are WELDON
t. to them. Very respectfully,
n N. p. .ASPINWALL.
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