Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1873-08-16
An Egyptian Plague.


The Threatened GIasshOpper Invasion
A telegram from Iowa announcing
the presence of a large army of grass
hoppers on the wing will not be pleasant
news to the farmers. The American
home of these herbivorous tribes seems
to lie in New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado,
and Utah, onwhose arid, dusty soil they
multiply in immense numbers. From
these districts, it would appear, the
present multitudes lowering over Iowa
have been waited in the winds of sum-
mer. The July report of the Agricul-
tural Bureau states that the Colorado
beetle has advanced eastward to New
York, and has appeared in devastating
force through the West. The invasions
of these myriad devourers of the
precious fruits of the earth, like the
noisy march of the locust bands, have
been at times attended with the most
serious consequences to the land, such
as famine and pestilence. Though ap-
parently feeble foes to the autumnal
harvest, they are not to be despised,
and the entire agricultural community
should be on their guard and be pre-
pared for their arrival, especially as ex-
perience shows that their advance may
be checked and their ranks thinned.
Grasshoppers do not belong to the
same family as the locusts, but they are
very nearly cOnsaLguineous, and when
they begin their devastations early in
the season are exceedingly deadly to
vegetation. They have not the power
to leap as high nor to sustain so long a
flight as the locust, and hence it is,
perhaps, that they frequent and prey
upon the grass and herbaceous leaves
rather than on the leaves of the higher
trees. They have no particular habita-
ton, but are found in almost all coun-
tries though in many districts they
have a green color and elude observa-
ton, not being distinguished from the
foliage and grasses. In the tropics SC
bright and highly cololed are thei1
delicate wings that they become con.
spicuous. In the West Indies species
of grasshopper has been justly charged
with the destruction of the sugar cane
crops, and it is not impossible that in
this country these leaping preyers on
vegetation may become equally dan.
gerous. The European species are i'm,
mensely prolific, laying, it is said, more
than two hundred eggs. Fortunately,
it generally happens that these swarm.
ing armies of the insect world do not
acquire their voracity and numbers till
near midsummer or afterwards, when
the vegetation has become too hardy OF
far advanced to be fatally injured
Their numbers, it is contended by skill,
full and experienced agriculturists, may
be vastly diminished by little labor.
When the trees and shrubs are exam.
ined in spring or winter, the eggs are
often found in large quantities, and
these can be easily removed and de.
stroyed. 1t is also asserted that by
sweeping over the foliage and grass
with light net early in the morning,
while the insects are yet inactive and
not as sprightly as during the heat Of
the day, thousands of them can be
caught, and, when scalded, afford fine
and palatable food to the poultry and
pigs.
The clouds of grasshoppers reported
as lowering over the country around
Sioux City, Iowa, probably made then
way thither from the dry plains and the
hotter regions of the Southwest. II
1854, and frequently before, they had
penetrated in summer from the West
around the northern part of this State
and ravaged the pastures. Although
some of these insects have been seer
on Long Island this season, it is moi
likely that the army, now in Iowa, can
move en- n10Sse across the barrier of the
Aleghany Mountains into the Middle