The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1918-09-19
Bury GYasshopber Eggs Deep
Enough To PreUent Young From
Reaching Surface, Is Best Cure

GrasshopperB are causing a good
deal Of worry in many parts of the
state at present, and many questions
are being asked regarding what to
do this fall to lessen their number
next year. The following pointers
by G. B. Waldron, Of the North Da-
kota Agricultural college, contain
suggestions that can be used to good
advantage:
Amy fields in which grasshoppers
were found during the last season,
are already filled with eggs for next
years crop Of hoppers. The increase
In the number of grasshoppers in the
last two or three years has become
alarming and unless immediate steps
are taken to control this pest, the
menace to next years crop will be
very great. There are two or three
reasons for this unusual increase.
One of these has been the dry wealth
er, which favors their multiplication,
and another is the practice of drilling
in rye upon stubble land. The drill
does not break up the surface of the
soil sufficiently to destroy very many
of the eggs, the result being that the
grasshoppeTs hatch out very abund-
antly in the spring, in fields that
have been drilled to rye the previous
fall. 1t is safer from the standpoint
of securing a sure crop Of rye, to
drill it in the stubble than to seed
it in plowed land. If, however,
through this, practice, the grasshop-
pers have become very numerous, it
will be necessary to discontinue the
practice and pillow all land which is
to be seeded to rye. An alternative
might be a thorough dragging Of the
land after the rye is drilled, with the
idea of breaking UP the nests Of
grasshoppere eggs so that they would
fail to hatch In the spring. 1t has
been found that very thorough drag
'ging of the Iand.in the early spring,
while it is yet mellow. destroys near
~ all OF the grasshopper eggs by ex-
posing them to the sun and wind.
Whether this is sure enough so that
1t. could be recommended, as a safe
practice, is still somewhat of a ques-
ton, as the experiments so far, along
this line, have been rather limited,
The one unfailing remedy that has
always been recommended, is the
Of the land so as to bury the
eggs deep enough to prevent the
young from reaching the surface at
the time of Matching. In a good
many instances, even this practice
has failed Of its purpose, probably
because the land was not plowed
deep enough nor the burrows packed
down sufficiently to prevent the
young hoppers from finding their way
out through three or four inches Of
soil. SO it is necessary that the
blowing be, five inches in depth.
Grasshopper eggs begin patching
the latter, part of April. so the land
must be plowed either in the fall or
As early in. the spring as possible. 1t
has been suggested by some that
the farmers discontinue the growing
OF rye entirely. for one year. in re-
gions infested nv grasshonpers. While
even this is wiser than to allow the
to increase. a better
nlan might be to chance the rye win
ter killing by sowing it upon plowed
land. In numerous cases last fall.
tl1e soil was so drv that the. rye did
not terminate in the fall. The seed
Law in the ground over winter. ger
in the spring and made a
good crop. This might not occur ev-
erv season. but It IS worth risk
rather than to continue practice |
that is sure to increase the grass
1anpers to such an extent that thew |
will greatlv damage or destroy any |
eron that might be grown
One distinctly alarming feature in |
the grasshopper situation is the rapid |
snread over areas that were not in
Tested last year.
There iR law in North Dakota
REQUIRING land holders to plow land
which Is infested with grasshnpper
eggs. The enforcement of this law