The Weekly Kansas chief. [volume] (Troy, Kan.) 1872-1918, 1875-06-10
fur the farmer.
RIRps AND GRAssHOPPRRs.

Dr. Follenus, correspondent of theft. Scott |
Monitor writes that paper as follows:
s'During the last Winter the State of Kansas
exported 100000 600 of prairie chickens and quals
canght in traps; and, assuming that during a
space of eight weeks, the usual time the grass
hoppers remain on or near the ground when
hatched, every prairie chicken eats four gallons
of them, and every quail one-half that amount,
the 100000 of wild chickens and quails trap
ped, one-haH OF each species, would have deyour-
ed6O 600 900 gallons of young grasshOppers, not to
speak of the immense quantity of eggs also gree
Oily picked up by them.
My figures given may fall short in many re-
spects, but defy any contradiction as to exag
geration, and ask, how many growing crops
might have been saved this Spring, with from
60,O00,00O to 900 gallons of young grass
hoppers and eggs less than we now have to con-
tend With"
We do not believe that DIR. Follenus has ex-
aggerated in the least the Importance of preserv-
ing the birds of Kansas from destruction, al
though we do not know from what source he
obtains his figures. We have devoted much
space to this subject for years past, and have re-
peatedly urged the Legislature to enact more
stringent laws for the protection of the birds.
But public sentiment was indifferent, and even
the farmers, who were the sufferers by the dep
relations of the insect pests, adopted no meas
ures to secure the passage of adequate laws 1t
ought to be made a crime, punishable by impris-
onment in the penitentiary, for any man to shoot,
trap or snare a bird of any kind, in Kansas, for
at least ten years to come. Let the birds multi
ply, and the insect pests will disappear. To pro-
tect the birds ia to protect the crops from de-
struction.
The New York Graphic publishes thoughtful
article on this subject, from which we make the
following extracts:
has been largely due to the increased new areas
under cultivation furnishing them choice food,
and the immense destruction Of grouse, wild tur-
Keys and other birds which feed upon them.
ha natl ,aTS IL, ha, hoa haan
ried on to such an extent that they have almost
disappeared from the vast districts where they
were once plenty. In killing them the farmers
have invited the invading grasshoppers to come
and possess the land. There is a great deal OF
talk now of some patent means of destroying
the locusts by the wholesale. No such specific
has yet been discovered, and all the experience
Of the East goes to show that the chief DEEPEN
dence must be put upon natural causes II we
XIII the bird that eateth the worm, we must ell
Their eat the worm or expect the worm to eat us.
There is no alternative If we destroy the wild
fowl by the thousands and ship them by the ton,
we mustacope as best we can with the supply OF
provisions nature has made for them. There IS
no objection to fasting and prayers; but rightly
enforced law prohibiting the shooting OF grouse
or turkey, or wOodcOck or quail or pigeon, out OF
their season, except in small numbers, for the
next twenty years, under the severest penalties,
would do vastly more to prevent the coming of
the grasshopper than anything yet devised. As
fast as the wild fowl is driven back by cul-
tlvation, domestic fowls and birds should be IN
PRODUCED. The only way to conquer nature is by
obeying nature"
We have written SO much upon this subject,
and copied from other journals SO many articles
similar to those copied above, and these publica-
tions have fallen far short of their purpose in
inspiring public sentiment that would make it
unhealthy for bird hunters in Kansas, that it
sometimes seems q waste of space and time to
continue the work. But in the presence of such
pest as that now ravaging the harvest fields of
large portion of our State, perhaps the publica-
ton of such facts as those stated above will not
be for nothing. We quite agree with the Kan
sas City Journal that "an able-bodied man going
about killing birds with shot gun is a sight
that always suggests the whipping-pOst. Or if
this Delaware relic of barbarism should be re-
garded with dsfavor, the striped suit of the Pen
itentiary or the uniform of an Insane Asylum
naturally suggest themselves as proper and de-
served substitutes for the gun and hunting suit.
By any means and by every means, no matter
how severe, this destruction of the birds ought
to be and must be stopped. The man who, in
this State, shoots snares rtraps bird is prop
er subject for the notice of the law, and he ought
to be punished in such q way that he would
abandon the business forever as attended
with very unpleasant results. We cannot afford
to have our birds killed. They are absolutely
necessary to the prosperity of the State. They
are the only enemies of the grasshoppers that
can wage q successful against those pests
The birds must be protected, or Kansas will have
to be abandoned to the grasshopPers.