The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1877-02-14
Chs Ssmtfmel.
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY IA.
DEVASTATION BY INSECTS.

Facts are said to be stubborn things" and
the average investigator of facts finds the
fact established beyond question. 1t will
not do, however, to give up the struggle or
relax our efforts to overcome stubborn facts if
they stand in the way of progress, or endan-
ger life, health or possessions. 1t is set
down as fact that in the
year 1875 ten thousand persons were
driven out of the state of Kansas by grass
hoppers. Just how many grasshoppers are
required to remove such an army of settlers
beyond state lines and send them into tenn
porary or permanent exile is not stated, and
the fact Will probably never be accurately
known. In this connection it is stated that
the grasshoppers which drove ten thousand
people out of Kansas were the offspring
of swarms which the year previous started
mission of devastation. OF late years the
visitations of these Rocky Mountain lOcusts
to remote sections of the country have been
more frequent, until at last they have Gre
ated widespread alarm. The great breeding
places are the far western territories.
and they are now looked upon as
enemies more to be dreaded than
savage tribes. So formidable have these in
sects become that empire states find it impos-
sible to resist their encroachments or arrest
the destruction of their vistations In sea-
sons of drouth, grasshoppers breed untold
millions. Home supplies of food ave
soon exhausted, and then they take
wing and fly to more productive
climes hundreds of miles away.
1t is suggested that the weather bureau may
contribute valuable information in regard to
locust years, indicating the coming seasons of
drouth, and in this way prepare the farmer
to devise plans to rescue at least some por-
ton of his crops from their Unsuitable
NAV. So far, however, il has mattered
little what the information has been,
the means of rescuing growing crops
from the ravenous rapacity of the grasshOp
per have not been discovered. Here, then,
is case for the study OF meteorologists and
entomologists, and it is proposed that the
general government shall take the subject in
hand. y writer makes the suggestion, that
as the government has provided a we'll or
ganized corps of weather observers, that
number of competent entomologists
shall take the field under government au-
spices. In celebrating this idea the writer
is of the opinion that mot only should the
border states, especially Texas, Kansas,
Nebraska, Minnesota and Iowa employ en-
'tomologists, following the liberal policy of
Missouri, which Cor eight years has had
state entomologist whose reports have
proved of incalculable practical value to
the people Of that state, but the habits of
the locust need first of all to be thoroughly
studied in the territories, particularly
in Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Dakota,
Utah, New Mexico, Arizona and in the new
state of Colorado. A commission of ento-
'mologists should be appointed to make a
thorough study of the locusts in the terri
tories mentioned" To accomplish this the
governors of western states, who recently
met at Omaha. recommended that an
appropriation be made by the general
government for the purpose of defrsyin &
the expenses of commission to be attached
TO the existing United States geological and
geographical survey Of the territories as a
means of securing the speediest and test re-
suits. The action OF the general govern
ment is demanded, in view of the
vast interests at stake, which are
of such national importance that
a refusal te take them under its foster
ing care and protection is little less than sui
cidal The Propriety of the movement 20 Sc
cure governmental aid, it is believed, is war
ranted by the figures, which placed the
agricultural products of the country in
1870 at the value of $500, 900, 600
OF this amount, 1t is estimated
that products to the amount of $500, 0o0, 600
are destroyed by insects alone. Professor
Riley is of the opinion that losses during
1874 from locusts exceeded SIS, 000, 900 in the
state of Missouri, and in other western states
the amount is set down at SIS, 0O0, 600. The
estimated loss by chinch bugs in illinois in
1864 was over $4,000 900 and in Missouri
$19,ooo,0oo 1.-THE average annual loss to
the cotton crop from the attacks Of the col
ton army worm alone is estimated at $50
100000. Adding to these the losses sus-