The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1874-08-22
s:ARM AND GARDEN.


tbiislny drops ~ sNifTjhit!tNt lhNFN.-
The grasshoppcrs of Minnesota have been
TO Minnesota what the great fire OF II was
to Chicago; what the floods have been 10
Louisiana, the famine to Bengal, and the
joy,, Republican carpct-bagccys to South
Carolina. There are remedies against fires
remedies aga'nSt foods, there ~. remedies
against ten,incs, and even against Republican
carpet 5aggcrs is there any against grass
hoppers? Can Minnesota DO anything to
prevent the recurrence Of such terrible Yis'
itation As she has had this summer? Nhc
eau, evidently, If the pharmacopGia Of aeri
culture affords remedy II il does mol, thch
she hal better establish new Office, appoint
a state cntOmOlogist, or agricultural doctor,
have him, il possible, discover the cause OF
the wonderful multiplication of these insects,
and suggest means to prevent thc!r monstrouS
increase in the future LoCusts and grass
hoppcrs have been committing devasationS
from time immenOrial. 1t may be dIilCuit,
but, until The contrary is demonstrated, we
will believe il possible, for science to prevent
the immense increase Of these insects ana to
hinder their sweeping over and devastating
whole tracts of country The problem may
not VET be solved 1t is rot necessarily inso,
lube, for agricultural insectology is get IN
its Infancy
Science has long since shown that ali in.
sects haze very useful part to play in the
creation. They preserve certain vegetable
and animal species from attaining numeri-
cal DrepOnderancc, to the Q3trimcnt of others;
besides which, they hasten tho decomposition
of dccaying bodies, and thus prevent the
matter which enters into their composition
from remaining idle too long 1t has been
pointed out that large farming, or covering
great tracts OF land with the same vegetable
product, disurbs the equilibrium Of nature,
which never intended that the whole earth, or
any vast extent of it, should be turned over
to the production of nothing but potatoes or
wheat, 1t is the mission of locusts and other
insects to interfere with the violation of ma
lures law rs at present established, and to
root out the ambitious organism which would
establish aunivcrsal monarchy. Large farm
ing, that is, "a said before, covering whole
counties with the same class Of vegetation,
causes the swanning Of insects Planting
vegetables Of different kinds at intervals over
the same soil dsCouragcS their propagation
and arrests their progress. When, says
Jacques Falscrres Il French writer on the
subject, after a cereal, another vegetable with
different parasites, as, for instance, the beet,
is planted, the parasites peculiar to the pre-
cedmg are destroyed. Side by side with an
injurious species of plant its parasites are
always found. When the species itself mu!-
tiplies beyond measure the parasites increase
in greater proportion, till they restore the
species to its due bounds.
The natural history Of insects injurious 10
vegetation is not yet very far advanced. Nat
uralists, thus far, have only named and clas
sificd them. They have not studied their
habits or their transformations to any very
great extent; and until such time as this is
done, the evil from which Minnesota is sui
fering must remain ono which may return al
any time. 4 great deal Of attention is being
paid to the subject of agricultural nsectol- |
ogy in France, Germany, and this country at
the present time. Minnesota can DO no bet /
ter than learn ali she can on the subject from
the Bureau Of Entomology at Washington,
and from similar institutions IN Germany --
Chicago 2lTbuue