Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1897-06-17
JOHN w. r Editor.
Thursday, June IL, 1897.
Grasshopper vs.. Hopperdozer.

1
For the benefit of the farmers Of
Day County who are feeling uneasy
on account Of the depredations Of
the grasshopper in our neighboring
county Of Brown, we reproduce a
statement Of Prof Logger. Of the
University Of Minnesota treating OF
the pest and the best system of
eradicating it. No information has
been received announcing the pres
ence Of the hopper in Day county,
but it pays to be informed on the
subject.
eThe swarm, whose young have
come forth in the vicinity of Aber-
deem, is one that left the northeast
ern corner Of Nebraska August 5,
1896. 1t arrived in plenty of time
to lay its eggs, and it is the young
from these eggs that the South Da-
kota farmers now have to contend
with. If the farmers combine and
go about it in earnest, there is but
4 little danger from the pests in South
Dakota, and if this is done there is
no danger Of their migrating across
the lines to Minnesota or North Da-
kota.
ssThe young grasshoppers are just
beginning to feed and the way to
deal with them is to use the hopper
dozer now and to pillow all fields this
fall. The hopperdozer consists of a
sheet iron pan about ten feet long
and three feet wide. On the back
is fastened a frame over which is
attached a canvas sheet. The front
edge is turned up so that it will not
stick inty the ground. A rope is
stretched about six inches in front
of this pan to scare up the hoppers.
A cloth is placed all along the bot
tom Of the pan over which enough
/. oil is poured to cover the bottom of
he pan. The canvas back is also
,aturated with oil. Kerosene oil is
ure death to grasshoppers. No
natter how small a part Of the body
{ the locust is touched by the oil,
is race is run. A team of horses
attached to the hopperdozer and it
dragged over the fields. 1t may
Q used on the growing grain while
is yet from four to eight inches
gh, or until it has begun to head
Ut. Where a field is known to be
tested with grasshoppers, the hop
erdozer will kill off a majority of
Q hoppers, and those that are left
ii make haste to ~evacuate the field
they are not more partial to the
lell of kerosene than are General
eyler's soldiers to the Cuban
lchete.
slt is not uncommon, where the
ppers are thick, to gather in the
operdozer from four to five bushels
the young hoppers in an hour.
is means that forty or fifty bushels
pe been killed, because nine out
every ten hoppers escape the pan
: is to say, they strike the oil so
a t they can jump out again or
y Jump clear over the pan and
n Ike against the canvas back. If
i have touched the oil at all, they
all become good grasshoppers.'
The hopperdozer, however, is
s4 a makeshift to preserve the
;asH wing grain. To eradicate the
the pillow must be used. 1t is
mated that 1000 eggs will be
on a square foot of ground, so it
not take long to repopulate the
The pillow will not Kill the
but buries them SO deep that
oung hoppers will die before
pAfn can reach the surface in the
g. The farmers must combine
terminate the locusts by plough
heir fields. 1t will do no good
A ne man to pillow his fields. They
unite and form a conspiracy
st the grasshoppers. All the
must be ploughed or else the
whose fields are not ploughed
9 guilty of spreading the pest
II the surrounding fields, and
rmers that ploughed their fields
vail nothing"
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