The Weekly Kansas chief. [volume] (Troy, Kan.) 1872-1918, 1877-08-09


of her name, she ought to have placed it at the
beginning, for she has been ''nighly h-ll."
CORRESPONDING
EDITOR OF THE CHIEf-Si:-From the Fall of &c
to the Fall Of '76 the belief entertained by some
persons (as all know and the hope by many more,
that the grasshopper plague in Kansas and other
parts of the West would its course and disap-
pear at the expiration Of years from the time it
made its first appearance in the agricultural districts;
but the belief of and the hope of the other have
all been in vai except in far they have helped
to buoy them up under such disappointment and dis
couragement as have been experienced by those who
have been unfortunate to be within their range
How such an opinion originated and what it had
for its foundation is matter Of little consequence
now for thing is certain, and that is, that they
can thrive and propagate in our climate for more
than ten years, whatever may have been the period
of their existence in any locality of any foreign
country.
Many persons have regarded the grasshopper plague
as a chastisement from the Almighty, though, pre-
sume there few who would not wish to frustrate,
much lies in their power this plan of His, if it
be the manifestation Of any such design. But what
hays been the beliefs of and the hopes of others
concerning the pestilence is of practical use,
cept in SO far such beliefs and hopes have inspired
men to devise means by which they may be reduced.
As the result of genius and persistent effort many
devices have been invented and employed to reduce
their numbers; among which, has been hot furnace
into which the grasshopper makes his last jump,
which is attached to wheels, and drawn over the
ground, principally through the fields, during the
Spring and early Summer months, while the grass
hopper is yet unable to fly; and recently, the
idea of covering large piece of sheet iron with tar
and employing it for the work of destruction, after
the same manner the furnace above referred to,
has been put into practice; and of course many mil
lions of them have been thus destroyed. But, wheth
er their numbers have been reduced in any given
year by such means that the remnant WAS not suf
cient, in its reproductive capacity to swell their
numbers to equal magnitude in the following
Spring is the problem which conceive to be difficult
from observation, to even approximate though many
devices have been employed with diligence to reduce
them down that it might he possible to raise crop
of grain even under their destructive influence
If, then, all the devices and works of art, assist
ed by the few native birds, cannot reduce their num-
bers to a degree in which crop may be raised-not
to speak of utterly exterminating them-what may
Of which am going to speak, let look briefly at
what some writers-among them, men who have in
fuencc with the people-have given the reason of
the grasshopper plague, though do not deem it ne
cessary, when writing to those who kno the facts in
the to scrutnize what writer's ignorant of
the facts in the case, have said Still let give them
passing glance. 1t has been asserted by such writ
ers-and apparently sustaned-that the natrc grass
hopper has increased vastly, and got the mastery be-
cause the birds and fowls of the great West have
been shot and trapped till their numbers have been
so reduced, and their protective capacity SO much
limited, that they were unable to keep down the ma
tive hoppersthat all this trouble has been brought
IN by our own folly, and 'ndiscriminate slaugh-
Ter" of the birds and fowls which acted as our pro-
ectors against grasshoppers and all similar plaques
What great band of hunters set out-I suppose be-
ween the years go and '65-on their profitless and
ooish course of killing such birds as serve best as
'ur protectors against any insect pestilencel say
great band-for it must have required the services
If many millions of such birds even our best ma
ives, to keep down such formidable insect, and
therefore many of those hunters" to kill them as it
must all have been done about the time for the
Increase Of grasshoppers was very sudden But this
srasshopper that has become numerous all of
me species-called by some, the Egyptian Locust
md have never been observed in country till they
ame in clouds. literally obscurnp the ravs of the
mn as tbev moved from ,oc.l;tv 10 ,oc.,tr How :.
I. then that rrassbopper which fit existed among
Is at all previous to their becominu 40 terribly mn
nerous existed 40 sparsely as not to be observed Mt
III. and therefore not recurring the use Of birds to
,eep down. should get n sudden impetus. which |
cause them, in their reproductive capacity to
keel by many millions of times, what it is now |
lnown be For it is now known that one pair will
eproduce from five to ten pair and no more and al
that the eggs that are deposited in the ground in
he Fall, are hatched out by the next Spring. So |
hat there is no room here for the assertion that the
ggs that brought them forth so numerous in &c were
deposited many years before, and as o consequence
# Wholesale and indiscriminate slaughter of birds
md fowls- they came forth when we were left with