The anti-monopolist., 1874-08-13
THE GRASSHOPPERS.

AAC PIoSuO vi 81 oSSAOppcIS is SNIP y
one of the results, Of disturbed bal
ance of the forces of nature.
Ordinarily the birds hold the insect
world in check the supply of insect
food determines the multiplication o1
the birds, just as the abundance of food
resulting from civilization, determines
the rate of growth of the human family
The marvellous and extraordinary in.
crease of the white race during the last
400 years. as compared with the sta
tionary condition of the darker and
barbarous races, depends on the pro.
cess of colonizing new lands and the i'm.
mense food supplies resulting there.
from.
The potato bugs owe their rapid in.
crease to their poisonous nature, result
ing from the poisonous leaves on which
they feed; hence few living things will
eat them; hence they multiply
and spread over the land. Grad.
ually however the few insects
that live npon them are increas
ing with the abundant food supply
and in few years, it is to be hoped
they will be able to hold them in check
Darwin calculated that if a seed o.
any one plant was left entirely undis
turbed. its seeds not destroyed by birds
or insects, and not crowded out by
competing plants, in few years its
progeny would cover the habitable
globe. The development of the grass
hopper tribe is upon very much the
same principle.
They breed apon the great treeless
inter-continental plains. Where there
are no groves of trees there are few
insectiverous birds; for the groves are
necessary to the birds, both for food
and shelter from the fierce winds
Hence there is nothing to interfere with
the increase of the grasshoppers. H
then, we will suppose that each grass.
hopper lays one hundred eggs. and that
there is nothing to destroy these, and
they come to maturity, and multiply at
the same ratio, then little caIcula.
tiop will show that the progeny of one
grasshopper will in five years amonnt
to ten billions; and having eaten bare
the plains where they were born, they
flow over into the regions bordering the
forests; and in the language of the
Bible, while the country before them
is Garden of Eden, the land behind
them is desolate Wilderness
The farther the line of the groves is
extended into the wilderness the farther
back will rccede the line of the grass.
hoppers. We have shown that one OF
these insects if undisturbed will become
in five years the parent of ten billions;
therefore if some insectiverous bird had
snapped up that parental grasshopper
he would have swallowed the possibil.
ity of ten billion hoppers.
The number of insects devoured bv
birds is simply incalculable. One writer
upon this subject says:
"The poet Longfellow, in his legend OF
The Birds of Killingworth," illustrates
with the clearness and simplicity OF truth,
in poetic garb, the claims OF the feathered
tribes, in the case OF the Farmers vs. The
Birds. 1t is in the season when the purple
buds expand, the banners of the vanguard
of the spring:
''The robin and the blue bird. piping loud.
Filled all the blossoming orchards with their
glee;
The sparrows chirped as if they still were
Their race in Holy Writ should mentioned
be;
And hungry crews, assembled in crowd.
Clamored their piteous prayer necessarily
Knowing who hears the ravens cry, and
said,
Give US, o Lord, this day our daily bread Z .
The thrifty farmer heard with alarm the
cawing of the crow,
ssThat mingled with the universal mirth.
Cassandra-l like, prognosticating woe,''
and shook their heads and doomed s'te
swift destruction the whole race of birds. .
at a town meeting, in soleme dignity conven.
ed, presided over by the squire, with the CO.
operation OF the austere parson and the stiff
deacon, Notwithstanding the protests Of the
preceptor against decree of banishment tc
those
sWhose household words are SONGS in many
keys
Sweeter than instrument of man e'e,
caught,
Whose habitatiOns in the tree tops, even.
! Are half way houses on the way to heaven
''You slay them all and wherefore Po1
the gain
| Of scant handful, more or less, Of wheat
Or rye, or barley; or some other grain,
| Scratched up at random by industriou:
feet,
Searching for worm or weevil, after rain!
Or few cherries. that are not so sweet
As are the songs these unlimited guests
Sing at their feasts with comfortable breasts.
| But the farmers are irexorable; they pre-
ferred the discord of the locust to the musi,
of the lark, and decreed the death of tn,
birds, awarding special bounty for thu
head of a crow. Avery st. Bartholomew o
birds followed; then came hot summer
the days like Goals, the ground burned t.
ashes, and
SIN the orcheds fed
| Myriads of caterpilars, and around