Herald and tribune. [volume] (Jonesborough, Tenn.) 1869-current, 1875-05-27
The Grasshopper Plague.

The grasshoppers scourge must have
reached a threatening aud serious pass in
Missouri, when we find the Governor Of
the State issuing a proclamation for hu>
initiation, fasting and prayer, to invoke
Divine interposi5on. Last year Kansas
and Nebraska suffered fearfully from the
same scourgs, rendering aid from outside
States a necessity to save people from
starvation. From the accounts before US
in the st. Louis papers, it is feared Mis-.
souri, will this year suffer from a like ca.
lamity, If not a worse one. The present
Invasion is now con6usd, it seems, to the
western part Of the State, bordering on
Kansas, but the indications are ominous
Of impending calamity in every section.
A correspondent Of the st. Louis Times,
writing from Clinton County, says:
ITO add to the misery, two dry seasons
have just preceded this, and crops, have
been cut short. Last year, Cass, Bates.
Jackson, Platte and Clinton all failed in
their corn crops. So did they the year
before. The wheat froze out last winter
in many plades; where it did not it is
being destroyed. The grasshoppers came
last fall, laid their eggs, and have patched
out this spring by tens Of billions. A
plague has fallen upon the land, and II
cry of distress comes up from every
household. The quantity Of the pests is
utterly ineompreheusible to those who
have not seen them, and their ravages are
more frigbtfal than the most evil prophet
had predicted. They come like a whirl,
wind. licking up every green thing.
Whole corn & aids are being devoured in a
single day, meadows are being moved
down q vi h a scythe wheat fields are
invaded, and, in a few hours, left bare as
the dry roads, vegetable gardens, flower
ing plants and small shrubs are taken
with a greed that is as marvelou, as it i.
dishcarteDing. Bluegrass pastures, with
which this region so much abounds, are
left without a sprig. Stock will either
have to be removed or allowed TO starve
Clover fields, that a few days ago looked
fresh and green, now present nothing but
the dull, black ground. No grain, no
plant escapes their notice, but all is at
tackled, and covered as with the pillows
of a crawling ocean brr ken over its
bounds"
This is certainly a discouragiug picture,
revealing state Of affairs more gloomy
than any experienced since the darkest
days of the war. Destitution and want are
inevitable. Farmers, it is said, have stop,
ped work in their fields. They say it is
utterly useless to plant anything until the
grasshopers leave. Work hands have
been discharged, and are gathering in idle
knots in the villages and towns, with a
good prospect of starvation before their
eyes Merchants are gloomy. stock men
are restless, and all the other business
men nearly hopeless. Many men are in
debt and nothing but ruin is before them
The condition Of moneyed men is but lit
tie better. They can get neither interest
nor principal Of the money they have loan
ed and If they close up mortgages an
deeds Of trust they will have valueles'
unsaleable and heavily taxed propert.
thrown upon their hands. The c%ountie
ravaged now are those which in ordinary
time produce a large proportion of the
wheat corn and oats of the whole State
aud noted FAR and wide for their fertility
The last blow is, indeed, a heavy one
and one that must be felt for years
c6me.-Republican Banner.