Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1885-06-18

the Marysville papers say that the
wheat fields are being devastated by
"myriads of grasshoppers."
The Oroville Mercury says that
the grasshoppers are eating the foil
age from orange, peach and apple
trees about Wyandotte, and are also
destroying the vegetables in the gar
dens. The Netoma vineyard is said
to be suffering severely from the
choppers" with a prospect of their
mischief increasing. A gentleman
from Rochlin states that the Califor-
MIA Raisin Company's vineyard, near
that place, has been entirely denud-
ed by the grasshoppers. Captain
Westcott, the manager of the COM
pany's property, says that while
the raisin product of the vineyard
was last year many thousands of
dollars, the fruit of the entire 100
acres of bearing vines will not this
year be over $500. The destruction
is almost complete. A Sacramento
paper states that 10000 acre stock
ranch in the southern part of FL Do
RADIO county has been entirely de-
nuded of everything green, pine and
willow trees stripped of their foli-
age, and in nearly every instance
the trees, vines and shrubs have been
entirely killed. The springs, wells,
reservoirs, bitches, watering troughs
and streams are filled with dead
bodies of myriads of the insects in
a putrid state, the water has become
poisoned, stock refused to drink it,
and the stencil arising therefrom is
nauseating in the extreme.
In Grass Valley the insects are
eating the peaches down to the pits.
Information has been sent to the
office of the State Board of Viticul-
ture of serious ravages committed
by the grasshoppers among the vine
yards of Napa and Sonoma counties.
In attacking a vineyard they com
mence with the nearest row, and
after eating the vines down TO the
old wood proceed to the next, and
so on. The orchards around Red
Bluff are said to have been entirely
devastated. The fruit trees and
grape vines around Folsom are be-
ing stripped, and all the hop-yards
in the northern portion of the state
have been eaten up and left entirely
bare. They have reached the long
vineyards on Deer Greek and the
Middle Sacramento, and have played
such havoc with the tender vine
yards that this years crop is null
itY.
The California IL Oregon freight
train of thirty-five cars got stalled
about mile from Roseville in con-
sequence of the number of grasshop-
pers that had collected on the track,
1t was found necessary to cut the
train in two, take part to Roseville,
and then go back after the remain
der. They are so thick all along the
line of the railroad that the officials
are planning out kind of pillow or
scraper to clear them from the rails.
In one of their attacks on an orchard
near Gait they not only cleared off
the leaves and green fruit and dug
out the pith from the tender twigs,
but also delved down below the sur
face and ate up the young roots.
Away up in the Sierra, on the noun
tain meadow pastures, grasshoppers
and crickets are cleaning off the
heritage, and are crowding up to the
retreating snow-line in advance of
the arrival of migratory focks of
sheep. Near Stocton a farmer was
so overrun with them that they not
only filled up his well, but also
forced their way into his house,
which, in despair and disgust, he
was finally obliged to shut up and
leave We8tern RuraI.