The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1875-06-10
THE PREVAILING PESTS.


THE LITTLE BIRD SINGING IN THE GRANGER's
HEART = THE GRAssHoPPERs GONE AND
EVERYTHING PERFECTLY LOVELY.
The Topeka special to Yesterdays st.
Louis Globe-Democrat [strike out a section
of that namel says: The atmosphere is not
so cerulean with profanity out here as it was
week or two ago. The little bird is sing
Ing in the granger-heart of Kansas. The
grasshoppers are taking to themselves wings,
and flying for other fields and pastures new.
From all quarters comes the cheering
report that the jerky pests are on the
move. The exodus commenced two or
three days since, and already things look
brighter. The public mind. which has been
'.all torn uD" with chagrin and spprehen-
Ting back to the Beecher trial and the third
term business, and people are beginning
again to manifest healthy interest in Sun
day schools and the like. This improved
feeling is somewhat tempered, however, by
a tagging suspicion that the departing red
legs may not fly fast enough and far enough
to assure early and complete security. For
they are only going-not gone, you must
understand. Still, all things considered,
THE OUTLOOK Is ENCOURAGING,
and unless all accepted signs fail, it is safe
to assume that the worst is over, and that
that Kansas will raise more than an average
crop of all Kinds of grain. In some locali-
ties-particularly the eastern tier OF coun-
ties-there will be quite a shortage, of
course, IS comparf with the general yield
/ 10 previous favorable years; but to offset
/ t5is, other localities-notably the extreme
! western counties-will produce far more
than in any former year. So, If we can get
rid of the hoppers with any reasonable
time. say two or three weeks, the general
product OF the state as whole will equal,
and possibly surpass, the best in her history.
The weather could not have been better sc
far if it had been made to order: and ex-
cepting only the bugs, the Kansas farmer
has nothing whatever to complain of. When
the true history of Kansas shall be written,
no part OF 1t will reflect more credit upon
her people, for courage, endurance and in
genuity, than
THE WAR AGAINST THE GRAsSHoPPERs
which has been waged throughout her linz
its during the past six weeks, and which
still goes bravely on. 1T is entirely within
bounds to say, counting both sexes and all
ages, that the fighting force put into the field
in Kansas this year for the destruction and
discontinue of these hateful insects, ex-
ceeds the number OF soldiers called out in
| 1851 for the suppression of the rebellion.
And what conflict it has been! All con-
ceivable means have been resorted to for
thinning and driving off the invading hosts
some simple, some clumsy, some ludicrous,
and some real triumphs of genius. There
has been burning, and scourging, and trap
ping, aud poisoning. Whole neighborhoods
have joined and moved upon the enemy in
regular military order. Trenches wide
enough and enough deep to arrest a charge
of determined soldiery have been dug
around gardens and fields. Acres upon
| Of J-sYl
closed with box-like board contrivances,
and the young pests impris med there until
| they die of starvation. In some places fences
and out-houses have been covered over with
coal tar TO catch and hold the hopping
swarms; and in other places regular barri-
cades were improvised in front of the ad-
vaDcing regions, with view to checking
their progress until they could be whipped
to death with brooms and switches. All
| imaginable
EXPERIMENTS IN KILLING
have been tried, with varying effect. These
experiments have demonstrated one theory
to a certainty, and that is that of all known
| insects the grashopper is hardest to kill. He
will pass through an ordinary prairie fire,
and hardly vince at it. Scalding water will
sometimes dispatch him, but not always.
and he will survive two days. immersion in
a bag under four feet of cold water Chlo-
roform puts him to sleep, but ne rouses
from it after few hours and moves on. Ker-
osene is not certain death to him, even if
he be saturated In 1t and set ablazs. Most
of the acids, administered in liberal doses.
will give him a final quietus; but
but preparations composed of two parts
acid and three parts water-ten drops of
which would prove fatal to human being
do not seem TO affect him in the least. Ee
has been known to live rhirty-six hours in a
sealed bottle. He will swim in and grow
fat on proof spirits, and tobacco in any form
is q real luxury to him. Buried eighteen
inches under the ground he will work his
way to the surface again, and he stands
electric shocks of ordinary force without
serious disablement. Ofcourse these things
sound ishy; but they are facts, neverthe-
less, and as such submitted to candid
world" Even tougher stories of the amaz-
Ing vitality OF the grasshopper might be