The Grange advance., 1874-07-15
L0cusIs or GrasshODpers,

The insect now devasting portions
of our State is one variety of the Amer.
lean locust. have been at some
trouble to collect few facts relative
to their different visits to the western
country. learn from Mr.. O. q. Kel-
ly, Secretary of the National Grange
that a cloud Of them dropped down in
Itasca county in 1855 and committed
some depredations. After depositing
their eggs in the early part of Septem.
Der they disappeared either by fight
or death. The depredatious committed
in the fall Of 1855 bore no comparison
whatever to the absolute devastation
OF 1856. After the eggs hatched and the
brutes began to crawl; their appetites,
increasing with their growth, was be-
yond bounds. They literally devoured
everything in their way. Old boots,
harness, bark of trees, tobacco plants
and weeds. Behind them the fields
were left as bare Of vegetation as
well-trodden road. This state of
things continued, TO use Mr.. Kelly's
language, "till, one day in June, as
there was no work to be done, I was
sitting on my porch and observed the
locusts begin to rise in the air. rose
up and called the family to come
out, and then we stood watching
them. The cloud soon became so
dense as almost to obscure the sunlight,
and before we left the porch the exc.
dus was SO complete that scarcely q
straggler remained behind.' From that
time to this Itasca has experienced no
further trouble.
In 1861 portion Of Dakota county
and some Of the counties bordering the
Minnesota river were afflicted by the
same pest.
In 1872 they appeared in the Chey-
enne valley, Dakota Territory. Here
they settled down from the air, coming
in from the southeast, sweeping
through strip ten miles wide, leaving
behind them a naked desert and going
out in northerly direction. Before
again rising in the air terrific storm
destroyed such numbers as to render
the air intolerably putrid for days.
Here too they devoured everything;
clothing, tents, boots, saddles and the
bark OF saplings. Their departure was
as sudden as that witnessed by Mr..
Kelly in Itasca.
In 1863 they came into Kansas from
the north. west. At Leavenworth they
were noticed passing through the air
n continuous stream, when on the
third day they began to settle to the
ground. The strip reached thir-
ty miles wide, passing diagonally
through the State, making q clean
sweep of every green thing. They
marched in straight line, and 20 re-
luctant were they to use their wings
that when they came to a river they
would linger until piled up in deep
ridge before rising to fly over. Capt.
Mickey, from whom we have the above
facts, says that his garden wall being
upon the line of march had q coping
which projected over the wall. The
locusts would climb up the wall, and
when stopped by the coping, the stream
still following after would crowd them
so that they fell, and that from time to
time he was forced to have the accu>
mutation gathered up and carted away
to avoid the stencil. From 1868 to the
present time there has been no further
trouble in Kansas.
From these facts it would seem that
q visit from these wandering insects is
purely accidental, and is by no means
incidental either to the soil or locality.
Capt. Edward Collins, U. s. A.,
Grand River Agency, Dakota Terrific.
ry, informs me that the 10.
Gusts are annually reproduced
in that u:cultivated country, creating
havoc on everything they undertake
to cultivate, except field peas; and this
fact, by the way, was also stated by
Mr.. Kelly, whose pea patch was the
only thing left when they visited him.
Since writing the above, Mr.. Bass
! of this city informs me that in his
tract of 200 acres in crop near St.
James, the only thing left is sma Ill
patch Of peas. Until within q short
time Mr.. Bass crop was all that he
could desire, and he felt safe in esti.
mating the yield at $25,000. From
experience know that q first rate
yield on new land averages nearly 40
bushels to the acre, and Mr.. BaPs