The weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1878-1881, 1879-06-10
Virginia City Enterprise.

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Virginia City Enterprise.
A gentleman just in from Long and Sierra
Valleys says that unles something unforeseen
and extraordinary shall soon occur to destroy
the grasshoppers, a clear sweep will this sea-
son he made of the crops in the places named.
The " hoppers " are just Matching out, and
there are millions on millions of them in
every spot selected as a breeding ground. All
the land is not equally filled with them. In
depositing their eggs, the mother hoppers-
Influenced probably by some popularity of
the soll-appear to have been prejudiced in
favor of certain patches of ground. These
patches are of all sizes, from a few square
rods to acres. In the Matching grounds the
soil is so filled with eggs that jim taking up a
given quantity of it the eggs are equal in bulk
to the soil. .
At these Matching grounds the surface is
covered with a wriggling mass of young hop
pers, while still others are constantly coming
out of the ground. Tie young insects do not
leave the spot On leaving the egg. 1t is evil
IDENTIFY their instinct to remain until all are
Matched and the time has arrived for a grand
advance of all the hosts. Then the myriads
of all the hatcheries will JOIN forces and move
forward to their work of destruction. Good
judges of the situation say that in six weeks
from the present time not a green thing will
be left in either Long or Sierra valley, unless
some uniooked-for accident shall occur to
destroy the pestiferous insects now Matched
and Matching. r
To think that cold and snow will do this is
said to be a mistaken notion. They will live
through a degree of cold That would cause
the death of a human being left out of doors
to take chances with them.
Nothing appears to injure the eggs. All
seem to hatch. In a certain locality in Sier-
Ia vally the females last fall deposited their
eggs in the sandy bed of a dry canyon. This
spring when the snow melted in the noun
tains this canyon for a long time presented
the appearance of a small river. As the wa
ter diminished the bed of the canyon was
subjected to alternate freezings and thawings,
and it was thought that no eggs could have
lived through all these trying changes, yet
when the proper Matching time came myrlads
of young hoppers bored their way up from
the bed of the canyon with as much facility
and impudence as characterized the coming
forth of those that were planted in what
seemed to be more favorable localities.
It has been suggested that the hoppers
might be destroyed were the farmers to now
attack them by spreading dry stray over their
Matching grounds and by firing it, thus roast
ing them before they began their march, but
it is said there is not straw enough in all the
valleys to cover a tenth part OF the Matching
ground. ..g
A short time since a ranchman at Antelope
station tried the straw cure. He covered
with straw one of the largest Matching
grounds on his farm, and setting fire to it,
had the satisfaction Of seeing all the hoppers
roasted that were on the surface. The next
day after the burning not a hopper was to be
seen, and the operation was considered to
have been a success ; but in a day OF two
thereafter they cameiout of the ground by
millions-ten times as numerously as on the
Matching grounds that had not been treated
by the fire cure. The burning of the straw
had only served TO warm the ground and
cause a more speedy Matching. Worst of all
the farmer was now out of straw, and had no
means of ~ayenging himself upon the hoppers,
that seem to come up ont Of the ground to
mock him for his attempt at their destruc-
ton.
The pests cover SO much ground, are scat
tered over SO much territory, and are pres
ent in their hatcheries in such immense mum
bers, that it seems useless to attempt to des-
trey them. All that men could do this way
would not make any perceptible diminution
in their numbers, nor in any noticeable de-
gree decrease the size Of the grand army when
II came to take up Its line Of march.
The marriage ceremony is sometime allud.
ed 70 Is jumping the broomstick. Dodgins
that .espen, according 10 the Philadelphia
Chronicle-H Herald, sets in soon after.