Yes i have seen damage by hoppers... and have also skidded on the TransCanada highway by Moosejaw, when it was covered with those fat green insects after they had gorged themselves elsewhere... The road was slicker than a waterslide that was greased with butter... My windshield was a mess too! And to think that the Royal Canadian Airforce used do flight training from a field in Moosejaw... A buddy of mine was stationed there... As an aside... i don't think that GRs brought the methods described below along to Canada to fight hopper infestions... Or??? ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jim Klein" <kleiji@wwc.edu> To: <GR-HERITAGE@LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU> Sent: Wednesday, August 25, 2004 11:02 PM Subject: Re: [GR-HERITAGE] Pest control... > On page 136 of Joseph Heights' "Homesteaders on the Steppe", there is a > reproduction of an 1838 woodcut by Kohl showing peoples' response to a > locust invasion near Odessa in 1828 and 1829. Accompany text states: > > "Every able-bodied man, woman, and child was required to rally to the > fight. People tried desperately to deter the swarms from landing on the > fields by creating a pandemonium of noise. Men fired shots into the > air, hoisted firebrands and scarecrows on long poles, beat loudly on > kettle drums, and built smudges of damp straw and litter. Sometimes the > din and the smoke actually caused an approaching swarm to veer from its > course and by-pass a village. But when it descended upon a field or > garden, the locust fighters quickly encircled it with numerous fires and > tried to exterminate the invaders on the ground by throwing in faggots > of burning straw or running horse-drawn rollers over the field. But all > the efforts to stave off disaster were of little avail. When the > depredators had gorged themselves they rose en masse into the air, > leaving behind a scene of vast ruin and desolation." > > >>> JM_on_GR_H <JM_on_GR_heritage@telus.net> 08/23/04 7:33 PM >>> > While doing some research on "bio-remedies" i wondered if anyone has any > stories they can share about what The Germans IN Russia may have done > about > agricultural or "garden" pests... > > I remember, as a kid collecting [Colorado] potato beetles on my > grandfather's farm. > > >