The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1874-08-29 00:00:00

INSECT PLAGUE IN AMERICA.

The Omaha correspondent of the New York Times mites

to that jo.ual

" The present summer has been remarkable for the
immense swarms of destructive insects which it has
given life to all over the west, from Illinois to distant
Oregon, and from Texas to Dakota. Parts of this
region are fairly alive with the potato-bug, cricket, or
army grasshopper. In Montana a small grasshopper
has destroyed every vestige of vegetation in the Gal-
latin Valley, one of the most productive regions of the
territory. In Idaho, the crickets have made one of
their occasional tours, being in several places as dense
as ever was the Egyptian storm of locusts. But a
field is preserved from the ravages of these pests
by digging a trench around it, the base being narrow,
then widening as it slopes upward. When the in-
sects fall into this ditch they cannot crawl up its
sides owing to its angle, and it is t 10 deep for them to
jump out, so that thousands of them perish in their pri-
son from hunger. This same species of cricket has
visited Eastern Oregon for the first time in many years,
and has inflicted much injury on the crops. Millions
upon millions seem to move together, being guided in
their course by a common impulse. In their migrations
, they cross streams. I saw millions of them at one
' time in the Umatella River, they having apparently
entered it with the intention of floating to fresh pas-
tures. They follow the course of the current, and on
reaching tranquil water swim towards the shore and
recommence their devastating work on the first edible
vegetation they encounter. Tneir ravages in Eastern
I Oregon have been greater in -Ornatella County than
elsewhere in the State, but, if they do not spread any
further, the damage they can inflict must be compara-
tively small. The next pest in the west is the potato.
bug, an insect as vicious and destructive as any of
its congeners, with this exception—that its taste is
more limited. It devotes special attention to esculents,
and these it devours with a rapidity and avidity that
cannot be excelled by any winged creature in the uni-
verse; this bug is most numerous in Colorado, which
I seems to be its favourite habitat, yet it is also a visitor
' to Illinois this year, where it is doing considerable in-
jury. In Colorado it seems to have spread over a large
area almost simultaneously, as if it sprung full-armed
into life in each section. '1 his would indicate that the
ova from which the insects come are laid in the grass
and hatched by the heat of the summer sun, and that
the insects are not migratory like the grasshopper, or
at least that their range is far more limited. They'are
extensive enough, however, in the American Switzer-
land, and their work will inflict much damage on the
farmers. The grasshoppers are, however, the great plague
of the country. They have been more destructive to
crops in Minnesota and lowa than all the raids made into
these States by the Indians during the past ten years. A
rough guess would place the destruction of wheat alone
in Minnesota at 1,500,000 bushels. This would make
the loss in wheat amount to one and a quarter million
dollars, and as much more, perhaps, for the other
cereals would, together, give about the estimate of the
monetary damage to Minnesota. lowa has probably
suffered the same loss, or very near it; while an
eighth of a million dollars, or perhaps less, will make
up the amount of injury done to Nebraska. Along the
line of the Union Pacific Railroad they have devoured
the leaves of every corn-stalk, so that the fields present
a most dilapidated appearance. I saw a shower of
these insects falling near the town of Freemont, and can
only compare it to a dense snowstorm, a comparison
not inappropriate, as their wings are white. When the
train attempted to move on it was prevented by the
numbers crushed by the wheels, as they made the track
so slippery that the drivers could only whirl round
without progressing an inch. Before the train could
proceed the track had to be swept, and this delayed it
an hour. The freight train was detained over two
hours by the same storm. North of the railroad, in
the Valley of the Loup, the hoppers have destroyed all
garden vegetables as well as the corn and oats; and as
this section contains about the poorest inhabitants in
the State, the suffering must be severe. The grass-
hoppers have not proceeded eastward further than
within sixty miles of Omaha. Their migration to the
south does not extend beyond the River Platte, but no
one can tell what moment they may make a move to
this wealthy region. If they are confined to their
present limits they cannot do very great injury. When
Ithey rise in the air, they are so dense at to oftentimes
obscure the sun, and the noise they make is somewhat
like the rush of a wind-storm at sea, except that it
seems duller and heavier."