The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1874-10-08
The Grasshopper Plague.

The Grasshopper Plague.
The following description of these
pests and their depredations is given by
Rev. Richard Cordley, of Lawrence,
Kan, in the Congregationalist:
The "grasshopper region" extends
from the Indian Territory on the south
to Minnesota on the north, and from the
arid plains Of the Rocky Mountains on
the west, whence they originate, to the
often, however, that they reach the
latter boundaries, as frost generally
overtakes them on the way. This year,
however, they are earlier than usual, and
they reach the rivers before frost comes.
So their ravages this year will extend,
with an occasional break and omission,
over a region nearly 1000 miles square.
Their number is simply appalling.
The national debt and the wonders of
geometrical progression are left COM
pletely in the shade. Take your little
pencil while give you the materials of
problem. An army of them is passing
over my house as l am writing, going
eastward. Looing up, the air is filled
with them as high as you can see. The
lower strata looks like snow-flakes in the
air. Higher up they look like silver dust
sprinkled on the sky. This immense
multitude has been moving rapidly all
day. On Saturday, two days ago,
another army, equally vast, passed over
the city southwark, and were seven
hours going over. Now, remember that
the army extends, with few breaks in
the line, nearly 1000 miles, and, while
your pencil and figures may fail, you can
form some conception of the reality.
Their destructiveness is as wonderful
as their numbers. When they light they
| come down like a snow-stOrm, covering
the ground. AS soon as they strike they
begin to eat, and they keep eating till
food grows scarce, and then they move
on. In some places their destructiveness
is more complete than in others, as their
stay varies from three days to three
weeks. They have excellent appetitcs
and wide range of diet. Onions, tobac-
co, peppers, cabbages, and other strong
and pungent articles are their favorites !;
but they can accommodate themselves
to circumstances, and when these luxu-
ries fail can thrive very we'll on such
substantials as corn or grass, or leaves
of fruit or forest trees: and even as a
last resort they devour the twigs and
bark of the trees, and the stalks of the
corn, as the bareback of the campaign
The rapidity of their work is almost in
credible. The great cOrntields of these
prairies seem to melt before them almost
while you arc looking at them; orchards
and forests exhibit the badness of win
ter, and the whole country looks as
or told me he had 100 acres of corn in
n1A
through it. The grassloppcrs struck it
stalks were standing. ut just melted
away before my eyes," he said. And
what they have done for him they have
done for all. The bottom-lan of the
kaw (kansas) River, which for 100 miles
west of here are almost one unbrokcn
corn-tield, now show nothing but corn
stalks. Where the corn is mature they
leave the ear and stalk. But where it is
green they sweep the whole away. In
this region much of the corn was about
ripe, and is safe. One hundred miles
west of us the grasshoppcrs came earlier
and there is absolutely no harvest.
l drove several miles through fields on
the Kaw bottom while the grasshoppers
were working The sound of their eating
was as if drove of cattle were in the
field. In my own yard you could hear
them distinctly eating among the trees.
At any hour OF the night you could 90 to
the door and hear the work going on. 1t
took but few days to strip the trees of
their leaves; the yards of their grass; the
gardens of their plants, and the fields of
their harvests. When food becomes
scarce they all rise together as if by
word of command, and pass on "to
greener fields" if not to "milder Skies"
1t is the best appointed army ever
known. They move and camp and work
in concert, as if directed by some COM
mon voice. They forage in the country
as they move. If one Of them gets hurt
or killed, his companions at once eat him
up. So they need neither baggage
wagon nor stores, ambulance nor sur
geon. The insect differs from the
common grasshopper. In addition
to its jump apparatus it is fur
nished with four white wings, which
do not simply help it to hop, but on
which it flies indefinite distances-milcs
perhaps hundreds of miles. 1t is no
doubt nearly identical with the locust of
Scripture.
The humors of the campaign are not
few. At Topeka they said they late
the peaches from the trees and then
threw the stones at the people as they
passed" In Missouri they say "they
stopped train one morning, seized the
daily papers, and there learning that a
section had been missed by them turned
back and finished the job" Stopping the
train is no joke. They have frequently
piled themselves on the track so as to
cause the driving wheels to stick on their
1>r H. IL L. =
aversion to them, as they cannot walk
out without capturing from fifty to two
hundred md bringing them home. In
church you can safely assume that every
lady has few score hidden in the folds
of her robes. A sudden twitching of
the features, clutching of the fingers,
or faint scream will indicate that one
of these captives has "struck for lib
erty."
Brains Of Men and Animals.
At the recent meeting of the British