The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1874-07-16
Grasshopper-Eaten.

DEVASTATED by grasshoppers. Have
you any idea what that means? 1t means
that the hotbed that was prepared with
so much care had the eggs in the stop
five inches of good mellow soil" Of
course a young squad was successfully
Matched out in advance of the main army
The little seedlings furnished rations one
day, and that ended the early vegetables.
1t means that, although the pie-plant
was well grown before they were large
enough to harm it, yet, when they swarmed
on it, in two hours they had riddled it
so badly that after using all you could dry
and can in fear for the roots you have ii
moved off, raked away, and the roots
covered with two feet of refuse, sodden
litter from the stack-yard. 1t means also
that the wheat and oats were given up
long ago, yet the farmers pin their faith
to corn and potatoes, and keep digging"
hoping the pests will soon, like riches
take to themselves wings.
But how slowly they grow! May is
gone and beautiful June days also, and
still the largest have no wings and mill
ions are yet Matching daily. They
move on to the potatoes, and the
farmer hurries his forces into the
field to cover up every vestige of the tops
with dust. Hill them up deeply, CRATE
fully remembering that Minnesota man
who swears by the poll list of his native
town that in that way he raises 900 bush
els per acre of farinaceous tuber He
keeps killing them up until digging time;
when the stalk is unearthedit is so laden
that it resembles the stem Of grapes that
the son of Nun lugged back from the
land of Canaan.
The grasshoppers have avery depraved
appetite, preferring highly seasoned food
to mild diet. Tobacco leaves, onions,
sage, peppers, tansy and NORWOOD are
destroyed by the scouting parties, while
the main army sweeps on, blighting in
patches every green thing. They lie in
wait around the corn feld lunching off
the tender prairie grass, while the fear
full farmer plants hill afterhill. He can
not delay, for his faith in God seems to
be at stake, and he dares not regard the
clouds, even though they are clouds of
grasshoppers. Then we have q first the
tender blade and then the hopper, and
then the porkers must be let out of their
pens, for it is NOW root pork or perish
Slightly altered from the original.
There may be a few potatoes saved. 1t
is not too late yet for buckwheat and
turnips, but it soon will be, and they are
eating as ravenously as ever "Our
green currants are just a-bubbling on the
STEMS" said little four-year-old. Two
days after the currant bushes looked like
hazel brush after a fire has run through
them-mere stubs. One gentleman
thought to save his young orchard by
brushing off the swarm and planting
ring of tar around the tree body. | sus
pect a horticulturist would tell him that
his remedy is worse than the disease
Another rode ten miles to brag over
his thirty-five acres of corn, five
inches high When he reached home
again two-thirds of his corn had been
eaten and the rest of it disappeared next
day. But this is not all. 1t signifies also
that nearly 10000 people in this once fer
tile district have nothing to eat and but
little to wear. Hundreds are drifting
away with their stock to country
where strong, willing hands find
work; others getting away with
nothing, begging for something to
eat when they become too faint to toll on
any longer. Many cannot leave, who
sacrificed everything to get through last
winter and have nothing to do but wait.
What they are waiting for the Lord only
knows. In His great pity may it not be
death from starvation!
Others, and among them the best off in
the country, are studying with corrugat-
ed brows whether to leave Mary and the
children to keep things together the best
she can, while the rusted tools are gath
cred up and the long-neglected trade is
resurrected-or must the petted stock be
sold? A mere nest egg that will leave
the man financially and dramatically just
where he was years ago. Or will he APP
ply to the dear old father, way back un
der the shadow and shelter of the New
hills? He has helped him in six
troubles, and he knows that he will not
desert him now that the seventh has come
upon him.
1t is also that the new roof will not be
put on this year, neither will the garden
fence be remodeled Even George and
Tommy must attend Sabbath-school bare
footed, if, indeed, they can go at all; and
their little brains must swelter all sum-
mer under homemade caps, for even the
price of chip hat must be added to the
bread fund.-Red Oak (lNian) Cor. West
erl Rural