Payette enterprise. (Payette, Canyon Co., Idaho) 1909-1935, 1913-07-31
FARM BUREAU TALKS
1.-THE Grasshopper Shall be Burden"

| Back in sunny Kansas where the
sunflower blooms" and various other
things happen occasionally, the grass
ao per has arisen in his might and
s making his influence felt after his
c~n peculiar fashion, and newspaper
reports assure us that that influence
is not to be despised. So serious has
the invasion become in some sections,
that special men have been detailed
by the State Agricultural College to
assist the farmers in their fight
against the pest. In one section
grasshopper day has been proclaimed
on which the whole country side
turned out to engage in the warfare;
but it is reported, in spite of the eff
forts being put forth to exterminate
the hoppers, entire fields are being
devastated.
We sympathize with those Kansas
farmers as much as we have time
or, but good many of us have sim
liar troubles of our own, for in Vari-
Gus parts of the country the same
pest has appeared and in sufficient
strength to be a serious menace to
growing crops. Letters have come
to this office asking for information
regarding the control of the pest and
have been on a number o. farms
where the hoppers were doing con-
siderable damage. In view of the fact
that we may expect a second brood
that will appear soon few brief re-
marks regarding some of the RENE
dies that have been tried, may be
useful
The most satisfactory remedy seem
to be poison bait, made according
20 the following formula: With 20
pounds of dry bran is mixed one
pound of Paris green or white arsen-
&c. This mixture is moistened with
three and one-half gallons of water to
which has been added one-half gallon
of cheap syrup and the juice and
finely chopped pulp and peel of three
or four oranges or lemons. The
bait is then scattered broadcast over
the infested field early in the morn
ing, the amount given being suffi-
cient for five acres.
Poison sprays have been used but
ire not generally recommended. In
one case where the hoppers attacked
Ioung apple trees lime whitewash
is thick as the sprayer would throw,
was tried and reported as being very
efficient and very harmless. l am
not in a position to recommend this
personally but it might be worth a
trial where other remedies do not
give results.
''Hopper-dosers" are useful in cases
where they can be used. The best
'orm, if the hoppers are not too nu-
merous, is a good big flock of tur-
keys Another form consists of a
shallow pan that may be eight by
.wo and half feet by five inches in
depth, mounted on sled runners with
l three foot screen attached to the
back side. The pan, which is better
divided into two-foot compartments,
nearly filled with water upon
which a little kerosene is poured,
Ind dragged across the field. By
means of the screen large numbers
If hoppers may be induced to enter
he water and oil bath which is quick
" fatal.
For few days after emerging from
The eggs the young hoppers may be
lutte easily driven into traps where |
hey can be destroyed. In the Phil !
.ppine Islands the natives have a GUS
tom of capturing adult insects with |
lets and roasting them for purposes
Of their own. This method is very !
effective as far as it goes.
The female hoppers deposit their
eggs in the ground, usually in bare
Incultivated fields. Wherever it is
possible to stir the ground in such
places to a depth of two or three
inches with discs or plows the eggs
may be largely destroyed and the sue
ceeding brood greatly diminished.
H. A. IRELAND,
roup+v AorSou1trra1 Apant