The Western advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1872-1874, 1874-07-18
SENSIBLE ARTICLE ON CR.tSSIfOP-

PEERS.
We find in the n Y. Tribune one Of
the most reliable and practical articles
Oh grasshoppers which we have SEEM
1t is evidently written by some one who
has had experience with the pests in
Kansas or elsewhere. His views &C.
cord so we'll with the experience and
observation of practical men III this vi
entity that We wish to again urge them,
us we have heretofore in the ADVANCE,
upon the attention of our people. We
stated before that Mr.. Sargent, of the
Okabena Farm of Miller, IIumiston &
Co., had prevented the grasshoppers
from Matching by blowing deep, and
the burning Of the young hoppers has
been mentioned as practicable. What
we wish, however, to make prominent
in the article given below is that by
fighting manfully the crops can he gen.
orally saved, and that after a few years,
the grasSllopperS will not he any more
Of pest than the clinch-bug, and the
other insects which constantly visit the
older States. The following is an ex-
tract from the article mentioned:
If the grasshopper comes again this
Summer and lays eggs Of course the
young ones will appear next Spring and
its advent this Spring was the easiest
thing to have foretold. But even if it
does come. an excellent remedy is found
| in blowing the ground to be cultivated
so as to bury the eggs 8 inches deep,
and as Il consequence they will not
hatch out until too late in the season to
do much damage. The farmer who is
not used to them is apt to he unnecess-
;erily alarmed, for it is possible to save
crops no matter how thick they may be,
but no attempt seems made in Mime
sofa. y crop OF grain Can be saved at
Il small expense by making winrows of
straw or hay through a large field, on
the outside of II small one, and then
driving the pests into these winrows
when Il mattel, is applied. Fifty acres
of grain may be saved in this way at
Il cost not exceeding $50. Generally
there is not much use of trying to save
garden they like onions too well and
they eat them too fast. The only way
to save rose-bushes and choice shrub
berry, is to place over them barrel
with one head. Boards, llankets, and
all such coverings are useless.
AS we have said before, the best gen.
eral remedy is to plant largely and fight
manfully. A grasshopper country is
generally immensely productive, and
the insects are no obstacle to farmers
making y good living and getting rich.
When there is range cattle should be
kept extensively, or even without range,
for though they are called grasshoppers
they are not grass-eaters, unless the
grass is quite young and tender. That
they are terrible pests, and that every
farmer breads them, is true, but they
are only drawbacks. In the early days
of Kansas they did great damage, but
. as they came only once in three or four
years, and as new farms were opened,
furnishing larger feeding-grounds, the
damage was divided, and now it is of
little consequence whether they come
or go. They arr. everywhere to be dread
ed, most when they come in July, being
on their travels, when they light in a
field of corn to stay over night, and in
the morning they are gone and the
CORP, too, unless they have been driven
out. We only add that these Minneso-
ia farmers. while they are poor and dis
couraged, ought to have help, and the
rest Of the State is rich enough to help
them.