'Hopper Horde

Near Hugo, Colo., when Farmer Hutchins went to bed one evening last week, three-inch green shoots covered his 50 acres, promising a 20,000-lb. yield of beans. At sundown the next day every single sprout had been devoured down to the ground, below the ground. The land was almost out of sight beneath a dusty- grey, endless horde of grasshoppers, plodding inexorably onward, eating every shred of living vegetation. There were dozens and scores of 'hoppers to the square foot, millions to the acre, trillions to the county. Government scientists and reporters crunched around the countryside in automobiles, killing hundreds of 'hoppers at every turn of a wheel. Against some houses and barns the insects were piled in drifts a yard deep. Newsreel cameramen put their lenses at ground level for close-ups which made the horde look like a fantastic invasion from another planet.

In Washington, Department of Agriculture entomologists declared this the worst grasshopper year since 1880. In Colorado, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, Montana, Wyoming, the Dakotas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas and Illinois the damage seemed likely to run close to $100,000,000. To combat the pests the U. S. Government was laying out about $1,350,000 and contributions to the war chest by State and local governments brought the total to some $3,000,000.

Size of a grasshopper invasion depends on two factors: i) the number of eggs laid the previous year; 2) the wetness or dryness of the weather. Moderate rain during the spring months keeps down grasshoppers because in moist weather a parasitic fungus flourishes which preys on the larvae. Scientists estimate the number of eggs by digging up the ground, counting the eggs in small sample areas. After they brought in a heavy egg count last spring, followed by continued dry weather, they predicted the worst.

Most effective counterattack is to spread poison bait, usually a mixture of bran, sawdust and sodium arsenite. Colorado Entomologist S. C. McCampbell has designed a mechanical spreader which. manned by three men, does the work of 25 men with shovels. Some farmers put their faith in the "hopper dozer," a shallow tank about 20 ft. wide, filled with kerosene, which is mounted on wheels or runners and pulled along by a horse at each end. Rising from the back edge of the tank is a screen of tin or oilcloth. At the approach of the "dozer" the grasshoppers leap into the air, strike the screen, fall into the tank. Turkeys are known to be great eaters of grasshoppers but the Department of Agriculture declared last week that even if all the turkeys in the U. S. were concentrated in North and South Dakota they could do little to stem the tide there.

Entomologist Orlando S. Bare of Nebraska Agricultural College last week warned farmers in his State not to relax their poison campaign, or they would suffer a double penalty: continued heavy damage to this year's corn crop, and a heavy deposit of eggs to menace next year's. Most of the 462 carloads of Federal poison shipped in had been used up, however, and many farmers in desperation were paying from their own pockets for bait bought from private dealers. In Colorado, an anti-grasshopper council was organized by the State agriculture extension director. In Arizona, a State entomologist predicted that the pests would this year consume much more than the 25% of range grass which they eat in normal years.

In July the 'hoppers sprout wings and take to the air, may do even more damage after flying has started than when crawling. Last week Watson Davis, reporting for Science Service, told how some curious person had marked a squadron of 'hoppers with luminous paint, to see how fast the crawling horde was moving. Speed: 2-3 mi. in 8 hr.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.