Yerington times. [volume] (Yerington, Nev.) 1907-1932, 1913-10-04
WAR ON GRASSHOPPERS.
How Kansas Farmers Set an Example
Of the Get-Together SPIRIT.

/
armed with fifty to one hundred
! pOunus OF poisoned bran to the man,
thousands o1 Kansas farmers set ont
at dayDreak OF a july day III the most
systematic campaign ever Waged
against the pest winch had ravisned
| Orcanrds and cornneids and stripped
every growing thing bare. Before
night tell more than 10 tons OF poi
,oned bran had been spread over the
nelds OF one county alone, while car
Dads OF the mixture. distributed free
OF charge, had disappeared as though
by magic, seized avidly by the farm
ers driven well-nigh to distraction by
! the most serious invasion OF grass
| hOppers since 1874.
When Prof. Geo A. Dean, ento-
! nologist OF the Kansas State Agricul-
! tural College, went out from Manhat-
! tan to Dodge City to take charge per
! ,onally. the situation was serious
| Corn i'll western Kansas was practic
| ally destroyed. the grasshoppers hav-
| ing come down in a perfect cloud and
| ,ettled upon field after field. not ris-
/ ing until every leaf had been eaten
! and most of the stalks stripped clear
! down to the ground Poisoned bran
| distributed by an individual under
small mulberry tree caused the death
of bushel and half OF the hoppers
! At this rate the number infesting the
orchards reached high into the mil
mons. Kansas was in the clutch OF
plague which babe fair to work havoc
I approximating hundreds of thousands
OF dollars.
The seriousness OF the situation
may be realized by this official bule-
tin posted on the Rock Island railroad
station at Dodge City:
Train No. 564 delayed forty min
utes: stalled by grasshoppers.'
Coming out OF Ford and passing
through deep cut the train encoun-
tered a pile OF dead grasshoppers.
| blown into the cut by the high winds
| through which the engine wheels were
unable To penetrate Three times the
/ engineer bucked the slippery rails. but
each time the attempt was inettect-
nal Ii was only when the train crew
| had shoveed bushel after bushel OF
I the dead hoppers away that the tram
was able 10 proceed.
In this emergency. with agriculture
and TRANSFORMATION AT standstill, Inc
systematic. state wide camnaign to r'd
( Kansas OF the pest was taken up I'M
der the direction of Professor Dean
and the authorities of the State Col
| ic9e OF Agriculture Investigation al
Manhattan had disclosed the ethcacv
OF a poisoned bran. one pound OF Pari>
green. two quarts OF syrup. three lem
ors or oranges and three and one
half Gallons OF water. The syrup was
added as "thc sugar coat on the BAD
mill" while the lemons gave an odor
very attractive to the grasShoppers
Tests had disclosed enough poison
on a single flake OF the mixture to Kill
four hoppers. The effects were slow
but once graSshopper partook. even
the tiniest taste. he was doomed
Eortv-eicht hours at the most were
III that remained Of his allotted life
Under direction OF State College ex-
nerts the various counties OF western
Kansas prenared the bran for free dis
,ribrfion. 100 pounds Sufficient to
sorcad broadcast over twenty-five
acres) TO the mqn At Dodge CITY
two carloads of the mixture We're
given away in one day In Ford
county no tons were distributed with
in twentv-four hours. Then. when
every farmer in the ncighborhood
armed with quantity sufficient to rid
from ten to thirty acres of the pest
the campaign was ordered tor July IA
Bright and early on the appointed
dav. thousands OF farmers started
through their fields. building barri-
cades OF poisoned bran or scattering
it broadcast. There were hoppers to
the rioht of them, hoppers to the left
of them. hoppers all around them
But thew advanced steadily. with grim
determination in their hearts and poi
soned bran in their hands
1t was a still day. with but little
wind stirring The bran had been
nurposely mixed with water. in order
that il might not blow away. The
campaign had been set for early
mornino. before the sun had warmed
the hoppers into activity
By noon the carloads of bran. hun
dreds of tons altogether. had been
distributed
Results were not SLOW IN coming.
BY nightfall OF the first day not only
had the greater part of the pests been
extcrminated, but the 1914 situation
had been cleared through the destruc
ton OF millions of females, just at the
breeding season. SO successful had
been the campaign and SO surely had
the hoppers succumbed to the poison
sometimes Immediately. more often,
however, IN twenty-tour to forty eight
hours) that one farmer, living near
Burdette, gathered up ll9 bushels of
dead hoppers, the greater part OF
which he dried, sacked and stored
away for chicken feed for winter use
While this campaign was going on in
the corn, katfir and cane fields, an
equally resultful campaign was bein
waged in the alfalfa fields and past
ures by means of hopper doscrs"
loaded with water and Kerosene, The
hopper doser is simple device con
sisting of galvanized pan on pair
OF low wheels. supported by frame
A team is hitched to the doser and
the pan rides close TO the ground
When the pan is drawn over an area
~ orac hnnpars tba ipsacts t,ip,p ovar