Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1860-06-08

Grasshoppers.

No, long time since, as was entering
certain state, not described BY naturali.,s
bat still common to every human being whC
Ia, mind and matter to work upon-no'
long sgo, as I wrote, ! took desperate fan
sy to writing poetry, Imagined as ihOu'and'
had done before me. that was born poet,
and mus, necessarily make vocation,
and hourly Impressed with the ida, spent
whole nights in bOtbsrins ny bead, wasting
ink and paper to enlishien-a, thought
the stupid brain. o, other. not as gifted As
mvsslt This state OF things lasted some
little time. and was mentally and phy'i'
eally ias, being reduced to a mere shadow,
and might have made fool Of my.eli to
nj, vrry day. Tor ausht know, had not a
senior relative tapped me on the shoulder
and, in 50 many words, told me was
foor
..Loos." said he. lin such and such
bools. and you will God sublime ideas that
your fancy never dreamed Of and day BY
day yoa waste your time describing In the
nsanesi style what other. have 80 perfectly
done before you"
Thi. blunt remark -, me TO thinking
thinking set me to reading, and l was not
slow (beins person Of good common ssnscl
20 appreciate and follow hs advice. Thi,
introduction permits me TO sAy, that instead
OF troubling your readers with any prOdue-
ton Of nv own. (which have sometimes
INDUCED my will call their kind attention
10 a book have lately PerusCd upon matters
Gpper,aining TO natural history. which can
not fail to inisrcs, all agricultural ani hor-
ticul,ural friends.
l refer to the work Of Prof. II. Jaeger,
published BY Harper { Brothers. y. Y, up
on the Life Of North American insects. \
volume recently published, containing many
illustrations, and probably more perfect
and satisfactory than any other work on the
,ubret-hAving the advantage Of resent da-
ia. and being edited by one fully competent
TO undertake the impor,an, task.
take the liberty to make a few quotations
from hi, remark. upon Gras'hopPer'. which
especially interested me, and may appear
alike novel to the public.
" Bu, the GrlssaOpper, although neither
large nor terrific in i,s appearance, has a
eurioa. and wonderful history; perhaps
more 80 than any other insect. IL Is the
sane insec, WHOSE mode Of li's, and whose
ravases have excited shs curiosity Of naiu'
ralists a. well as historians, in al ages. IL
i. armed with two pair Of very s.rOng JAWS,
by which il can both lAesrats and grind i,s
food. and although a single individual can
eject comparatively li,lls injury, ye, when
the entire surface Of the eountry Is covered
with myriad, Of them, End each one makes
bare the spot where It stands, the evil pro.
dueed by them must bs as immense As their
numbers. So well DO the ArabiAns know
Gpd feel their power. that one Of their poets
represents gras.hopper saying to Mohan-
med. ARE the army Of the great God
We have power to consume the whole world
and all that Is in H.
The sarlies, records we have concerning
the appearance Of srasshoPpsr. on earth. is
found in the Bible. where they are mention
ID 4, one Of the plaques Of Egypt That
country was then 80 covered with them that
the surface o, the ground could no, be seen,
and all the tree. and herb. were destroyed
by them. We end this account in the sc.
oBd book Of Moses, chap. 10th, And the
grasshorrers VENT tupover the land Of Egypt,
,srr 20 sous we're they.
For they covered the face Of the whole
Earth, - that the land was darkenod aud
they did eat every herb OF the land, and all
the fruit Of the tree. which the hail had
isl, anl there remained no, any green thing
in the trees, or in the herbs Of the Geld, 10
al tie lanl Of Egypt
Il will be noticed that have substituted
The word Grasshorpers' Tor the word Lo-
Gusts, as it occur. in our English version OF
the Bible. but have before shown that the
latter word Is incorrect. and that the animal
designated in Scripture vas no. similar TO
our locus, or eicada. but was really idsn,i-
cal with the gra~hOPpSr, Of which We are
here speaking.
In the year j9i an infinite army Of grass
hopper.. OF sire unusually large, ravased
Italy. and being at lAs, cas-, into ,hs sea,
from their .teueh arOss a pe',ilenee which
carried oG about a million oi men and
beasts.
In the Venetian territory. also, in 1873.
more than thirty thousand person, are aid
TO have peri,hed 10 famine Oeca.ioned BY
these terrific seourges. Ia 1880 cloud Of
them was seen TO enter Russia in three diff.
fsr,n; places. iron whence they passed over
into Poland and Lithuania. and wherever
they moved the air was darkened by their
numbers. ln some places they were Obssrv-
sd lying dead, heaped one upon another to
the depth Of four feet ~ other, they COW
cred the surface Of tue earth like black
cloth. the trees bent from their weight. And
tie damage done by them exceeded all CON-
putatiOn. When the weather became hot
they took wing and fell uP1n the corn, de-
'ouring both leaf aud ear. and that with
such expedition tha, in three hours they
would consume whole 6eld. After having
eaten up the corn they attacked the vines,
the pulss, the willows. and at last the hemp.