Science: War in the West

From his field headquarters in Denver Jim R. Button was deploying his forces last week like a general in pursuit of a highly mobile enemy. The enemy: billions of grasshoppers threatening U.S farm crops with devastation. Worst danger spots: large areas of Wyoming and Montana, with trouble building up in Arizona.

According to 270-lb. Jim Button, Assistant Chief of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's division of grasshopper control, this is the worst grasshopper season since 1940. But the hoppers are having a tough time; they are being mowed down in their youth by new...

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