© 2024
Prairie Public NewsRoom
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Grasshoppers: Mother Necessity

2/19/2010:

They say that necessity is the mother of invention. Such was the case during the 1930s, when our agricultural state, and others, worked to combat the destruction of grasshoppers. The insects came on like a plague, wreaking havoc on almost everything in sight. They ate the crops, the grass, the weeds; the wash, if it was hanging out to dry; they ate food belonging to the wildlife, to the domestic animals; they even ate the paint off the walls.

Of course, the Dirty Thirties were not the first time grasshoppers had caused damage, or the last time, as any farmer today will tell you. But grasshopper densities can increase during times of drought, when vegetation is already reduced, causing them to compete for the remaining vegetation, creating more hardship. And the conditions of the 1930s were perfect for this to occur.

To retaliate against the destruction, many worked to develop homemade safeguards. The North Dakota Agricultural College also set to work on developing cheap and easy methods to take care of the problem. On this date in 1938, the NDAC spread the word about their new machinery: easily-assembled grasshopper poison bait spreaders.

This machine was the equivalent of the broadcast spreaders used today. It was designed to use centrifugal force to spread the poison more evenly and with fewer clumps than when shoveled out by hand. The machine was supposed to speed the spreading of bait, and, with some care, was supposed to ensure the protection of birds and other animals from the poison. It wasn't too big, could easily be run through a field, and could be tilted up and down, allowing easy distributing the poison. Better yet, the NDAC recommended the machine to all farmers because it could be put together in any farm shop with an estimated cost of only $10-$30 dollars. This was because the most essential elements of the machinery were the rear wheel and gear assembly of a car.

The college said they would supply free written instructions and specifications to anyone who wrote in. Furthermore, they encouraged farmers and businessmen to look on grasshopper control as one of their most necessary jobs. They encouraged everyone to build the machines immediately, before the spring work began. After all, more than the farmers' livelihoods were affected by the appetites of the grasshoppers; the entire economy of our state felt their hunger.

Dakota Datebook written by Sarah Walker

Sources:

Grasshopper Management: An Integrated Approach, http://www.sidney.ars.usda.gov/grasshopper/Research/branson.htm

The Killdeer Herald, February 17, 1938, p.1