Rosebud County news. [volume] (Forsyth, Mont.) 1901-1906, 1904-07-07
DEATH TO HOPPERS
r. A. Cooley Sends 0ut Letter
Recommending Use Of
CriddIe Mixture

The following letter from A. r..
Cooley, state entomo1ogist, will prove of
interest to many of our readers:
The Criddle mixture was fl rst
brought to public notice by DR.. James
Fletcher, dominion entomologist, OF
tawa, Canada, who, at a meeting of
official entomologists at Washington,
d. c., made very prominent mention
of the substance and who since said:
sit has entirely replaced the cumber-
some and inadequate hopper dozer.''
One of DR.. Fetcher's correspondents.
in speaking of the Criddle mixture,
says: "In this section all used poison
and only few acres of crop were de-
stroyed. l am convinced that had we
begun the fight earlier. hardly a
bushel of grain would have been lost.
1t is no exhageration to say that dead
locusts could be gathered up in wagon
loads, and at times be smelled for
half mile''
a space of fifty yards from the edge of
this crop (wheat), where the remedy
had been only once applied two weeks
before, the ground was1iterally strewn
with dead grasshoppers, and all along
the edge of the headland, where they
had gathered during the wet weather,
the dead insects are lying in such
numbers as to resemble a winrow; on
one spot III were counted in IS inches
square.
The placing of poisoned branmash
where it will be eaten by insects of va
rious kinds is we'll known method of
killing insects. The use of the Criddle
mixture is similar but horse manure
is employed in place of bran. This
substitution SO reduces the cost of the
bait that it can be used more lavishIy
and hence employed in DESTROYING
grasshoppers in cultivated crops.
One part (by measure) Paris green
Two parts salt
Forty to 100 parts horse manure.
Mix very thoroughly and add suffi-
cient water to make the mass soft with
out being fluid. When ready for use
the mixture is taken into the field and
sown broadcast with a wooden paddle,
in quantity proportioned to the number
Of grasshoppers. It is said that the
young hoppers will be attracted for a
distance of 40 feet. The mixture is
more effective when the hoppers are
young than when they become larger.
The original mixture contained one
part Paris green to 40 parts of horse
manure, but in a letter to Prof f. L.
Washburn, state entomologist of Min
nesota, Mr.. Norman Criddle, who was
the originator of the mixture that bears
his name, states that much improve
ment has been made in. the mixture
and that it is now made in the proper
tion of one part Paris green to 12O of
barn cropings. We recommend that
users in Montana experiment with diff
ferent strengths between the two ex-
tremes.
1t will of course be understood that
the Criddle mixture is recommended
for use only under conditions where
the value of the crop per acre is suffi-
cient to warrant the labor and expense
of its application.
1t is out of the question to poison the
grasshoppers on the miles and miles of
open range, though the mixture may
well be used in destroying colonies of
the young on the range before they ac-
quire wings and scatter. It's greatest
field of usefulness is in the protection
of grain and grass fields against the
invasion of the 1ocusts from the Sides
There may be, however, various other
circumstances under which it's use is
advisable. Understanding the nature
and methods of the substance, the
farmer can best determine where its
use is advisable.
1t has been clearly demonstrated that
fowls are not harmed by being allowed
to wander about and gather food from
lands on which the mixture has been
placed.