The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1876-07-11


erybody is familiar with The raVages
committed for the past few years by the
grasshoppers in the far-western States.
The people stood appalled, by their in
credible numbers. the voracity with
which they devoured every green thing
and by the utter feebleness OF all con-
ceiyable means to destroy them, or to
stay their destructive ravages. But it
is noticeable that the present season has
been comparatively Tree from the ruin
Gus visitation of these pests. The rea-.
son OF this exemption was not at first!
discovered. And even yet, while the
farmers of Kansas and Missouri and Ne
braska and Western Iowa were trem-
bling for the safety of their growing
crops, it came to be known that this des-
olating sconI ge has actually met its fate,
and must submit to be conquered. The
manner of effecting this conquest over
the destroying chopper" is as strange
as was the first coming of the hopp ers
themselves. 1t is brought about, not by
any device of man, but by one of those
numerous compensations peculiar to
Nature itself.
just when these grasshoppers had be-
come, SO formidable as to threaten the
devastation of whole States, small
parasitic insect appears, which attaches
itself to the hopper and deposites it's
eggs under the grasshopper's wings.
These eggs are there hatched in only a
day or two from the deposit. On being
hatched, the newborn insect politely
bores a minute hole into the body of the
hopper and upgratefully leeds upon its
true inwardness, by which process the
hopper is speedily destroyed. This in
sect multiplies with great rapidity; SO
that from egg to full-grown fly, only ten
days are required for fall generation.
A farmer writing to the ST. Paul Pto-
neer Press, under date of June %, says:
II take the liberty OF inclosing you a
hopper, and il you will kindly examine
beneath its wings you will find num-
ber OF red flies, (which are last destroy
ing all the spestsin this neigbborho0d. l
ffered boy cents this morning to finG
me u hopper without the fly, but he failed
| TO earn the reward, although he worked
hard Tor it. l really believe that not a
single, hopper in Cottonwood County
will escape the raVages of this ny, and
not one will survive to lay its eggs IN
| any other place. Tney seem to be IAN
uuid and unable TO fly. Most of them
have their wings STUCK out, the flies are
| 50 numerous beneath them. This morn
| ing l came across thousands Of dead
ones, aud believe in a day or Two we
| shall have very few lett able to do any
mischief here or elsewhere; at any rate,
am sure that not One-thlrd Wall ever
leave here on the wing, as they can not
hy. [ hope and trust that my eXpecta-
| ttons Will be realized, as it i, pity 10
| see such magnificent farming laid idle
for no fault Oh tue fand or climate"
This will indeed be glad tidings o.
great joy to hundreds Of thousands o
! farmers in the West and Northwest, whC
lor successive years have seen thet
riches literally take to themselves wings
and fly away. Our hope now must b.
that this new destroyer OF the hoppe
may not itself turn out to be raVenou
insect when its grasshOpper supply i
exhausted. At all events, the countr.
may well thank God and take courag
that the hopper scourge has finally me
l fato