Bryan daily eagle and pilot. [volume] (Bryan, Tex.) 1909-1918, 1913-06-04
HOW To GET RID
OF GRAssH0PPERs
Waco Man, After Sustaining Heavy
Losses from Pest, Hit Upon Sue
cessfuI Elimination Method.
To the Houston Post:

To the Houston Post:
take the liberty of addressing to
you this communication and request
ing you to give it space in your col
umns in order that Texas farmers may
save themselves from serious loss
from the g~rasshopper pest, as ] am
doing.
have 1900 acres of land under cul'
tivation on my place near Laguna,
Falls County. The farm lies along the
Brazos River and is we'll provided with
levees and drainage sditches, is in a
high state of cultivation and is free
from weeds except along the levees
and bitches, where there are fringes
of them, from a few inches to two and
three feet high. Besides other crops
| have extensive areas of cotton, corn
and alfalfa.
Last year | had about $4,000 worth
of corn destroyed by grasshoppers.
The grasshoppers bred in the weeds,
and morning and afternoon went from
thence to the fields, returning to their
~coverts, where they stayed during the
heat of the day and at night. This
year the indications were that | was
to have as bad, or a worse visitation
than last year. The young appeared in
immense numbers. Taking time by
the forelock, / telephoned the Texas
Department Of Agriculture at Austin
to send me at once, If possible, one
of it's experts to aid me in combating
the pests. Prof. E. A. Miller, assistant
entomologist and plant pathologist of
the department, was at once detailed
for the work and he and | have just
completed a campaign that has yielded
the best possible results and is GER
tain to save me from anything but
very slight loss and to rid me entirely
of the nuisance. While | had to a
limited extent used poisoned bait and
had contemplated rolling my alfalfa
field, he indicated and extended opera
lions along those lines and suggested
and directed the other procedure, as
follows:
!. Millions of g%rasshoppers were
destroyed by prickly pear burners, the
burners being used simultaneously
from the front, back and both sides
of weeds, so that the grasshoppers
could not escape the flames.
3. Millions more were killed by
bands of poisoned bran mash being
laid along the edges of the fields, be-
tween the h%arboring places of the
grasshoppers and the growing corn
and cotton. While grasshoppers some
times live a day or two after partak-
ing of the bait, they quit eating after
swallowing it and do no further in
jury " ClOpSs
3. The weeds, where it was posi-
Bile, were sprayed with kerosene, kill
ing them and all the grasshoppers in
them that the oil covered. The oil
closes the breathing pores of the in
sects and smothers them. | used a
barrel spray and good nozzle, making
a fine mist.
4. | had just cut my alfalfa. | ran
a heavy roller over it at night, crush
ing them. An alfalfa field is an ideal
breeding place and ~foraging ground for
the pests.
5. A large bunch of turkeys was
turned into the fields to catch and eat
the few grasshoppers that survived
the other ~onslaughts. This was done
after the poisoned bait was removed,
6. In the fall ! shall pillow the land
along the levees and drainage bitches
and thereby destroy the eggs that the
grasshoppers lay there during the
summer.
| have saved myself from large
financial loss this year and do not ex-
pect to be bothered hardly any, if at
all, next year. If other farmers will
profit by my experience they will free
themselves from the grasshopper
handicap, and that at very slight ex-
pense, compared with the financial
benefit secured.