Evening star., 1885-06-06
From the San Francisco Chronicle.

The People Call Taem arasshoppers.
From the San Francisco Chronicle.
large portion of the foothill region Of Cali
fornia Is not only threatened but is being de-
vastated by such swarms OF grasshoppers that
they amount to nothing short ola plague. The
line OF march has been westward across the CEN
ter Of the state. All authorities and reports ap-
pear to agree in fixing upon the desolate wastes
oi the Sierra slopes as the birthplace of the In
sects. There among the stones and scrub the
eggs lie hidden year after year, until some pc
culiar climatic or physiological condition-eth-
noiogists are unable to agree upon this point
bring them to life. In Colusa county the most
destructive are of light buff when young,
growing dark brown in q few weeks, and reach
Ing two inches in length, with disproportlon
ateIy long legs and having great leaping powers
Inose In Ell Dorado county are small, brown in
color, have white stripes around their body,
and their clicking noise is not unlike the sound
heard In q clock shop, where at the same time
hundreds OF timepieces are ticking. A sample
american river, near Sacramento, were from
one-fourth to three-fourths Of an inch in length
seaers ssa sss Of AZ ssss that Their
E hop. few using their wings even when possessed
OF @ 1hem The probabilitiss are that the small
young and grown of the same species, the hatch
ing period being generally about the end of
April or the beg nnilig OF May, and the proba-
grsshoppers at all, but locusts Of the genus cap.
tetNs ie"nHTu6rEm, from the length and
SUI strength OF the jhmping legs and the color of
George s. Waterman, who lives between
IA ,farmington and Trigo, San joaquin county,
section Of the country. What s the drought n has has
spared the grassh6ppers are taking. E. Drais,
VINO lives four and one-half miles east Of Farm
hoppers came down little creek Leading into
.ns .a neid ana took every. leaf and stalk until
not green thing on their track was left. The
s'nic informant also says that all wfnter-.rown
gram IN his section OF the country, whether
Wheat or barley, has been entirely cut off by
the locusts. The Afarysvile Democrat states
that a farmer in that neighbofhood named
Amos Lane has lost about 20 acres of wheat by
tnem, eaten Off close to the ground, and that
grasshoppers invaded the agricultural lands
contiguous to Wick's, eight or ten miles from
Gn3nns, GEr93Tl1le, on the Chico road They raded John
grain ~ short order. GrasShVppers have APP
peared In lone valley in STICK numbers as to
,tmount toa scoufge. The grain crop, which
only promised about halfa yield before, is now
likely to be utterly ruined. At Folsom the
grasshoppers are numerous and are destroying
everything within reach. The NatoIpsa COM
lnny has a 70. ce of about fifty men continually
ishting them, and SoO pounds were captured
Yesterday, whicn they oflered If sale at five
cents sack, being the cost Of the sack At
Zeinwaldts place they are brushing them into
the ditch, and they are so thick that you cam
not see the water. ]. Z. Blanchard says that
they visited his place and did over 50 600
damage in one day. Mr.. Cashner, of Sheridan,
flacei county, has said that there the grass
). IL. Miller, OF LitTobe, had d ne field Of
200 acres oi barley, and in less than twenty
four hours after the hoppers reached it there
was rot the slightest-vestige of the crop lett
even to the roots. andthe ground the next day
looked rs if it had just been pIouged and har-
rowed: He says in the neighborhood Oh Latrobe
ana W bite Rock the stencil arising from the
dead bodies of the hoppers that clog up the
running streams is more offensive than the
country ior miles around, usually at this time
of the year covered with loIIg grass and be-
decked with wild flowers, presents most DESC
late appearance, and looks as though it had
been swept by fire. The large farmers in that
have, like Mr.. Miller, lost their
gntife eI, crop and the iced on their pastures
Those IN the neighborhOod of White Rock and
ClarhsVlile have suffered equally as bad. An
informant from the Consunnles says the grass
that vicinity, while. the Marysville papers say
that the wheat fields being devasted by
"myriads of gEasshoppers.'
hoppers are eating the foliage irom orange.
peach, ana apple trees about WyantIotte, and
are ais9 destroying the vegetables in the gar
fering severely from the choppers" with pros
pect of their mischief increasing. A gentleman
from hoeiSlin states that the California Raisin
company vineyard, near that place, has been
entirely Genuded by the grasshoppers. Capt.
We.tcott, the manager OF the conlpanys prop
erty, says that while the raisin product Of tile
vineyard Was last year many thousands OF dol
lars, the fruit of the entire I6O acres of bearing
vines Will not this year be over 5000. The de-
structlon Is almost complete. A Sacramento
paper states that Il 1O,0UO-acre stock ranch in
the southern part OF Ell Dorado county has been
willow trees stripped OF their foliage, and in
nearly every instance the trees, Vines and
SHRUBS have been entirely killed. The springs,
wells. reservoirs, bitches, watering trougbs and
streams are filled with dead bodies of In riads
OF the Insects in a putrid state. the water has
become poisoned, stock refuse to dripR it. and
fhnraifnnl iS
the extreme.
In Grass Valley the insects are eating the
Peaehes ta ,, aoWn TO the pits. Information has
been sent to the office of the State Board of Wit
1cultlre OF SeriOhs rav;,ges committed by the
grassnoppers among the vineyards of Napa and
Sonoma counties. In attacking a VINEYARD
they commence with the nearest row, and after
eating the vines down " the old wood, proceed
to the next and SO on. The orchards around
Red Bull are said to have been entirely deyas-
taeu. Tile fruit trees and grapevnes around
Folsom are being stripped, and IL is no exarger-
ern portion OF the state have been eaten up ana
lett entirely bare. They have reached the
Yong vineyards on Deer Creek and the middle
saicrainento ana have played such havoc with
the tender vineyards that this years crop is
nullity.
The California and OREGON freight tra;, os
thIlty-nve car. got stalled about a mile from
t.o5eViEc, in consequence OF the number of
grds>hoppers that Lad collected on the track.
take part 10 Roseyilie, and then go back after
t theremainder. They are so thick all along the
line of the railroad tnat the officials are plan
ming Outa kind Of plougn or scr0per to clear
them fiou tne rai In one Of their attacks on
an orchard, near u.t.t, they not only cleared OF
tne leaves anu green frIit and dug out tie
pith from the tender twiS., but also delyt /
down below the surl.,ce and ate up the younE
roots. Away UP in The Sierra, on the meuntaii'
mead " 'fcA ..tas hOn'1'rs and cricket; are
cleaning off h, he,i se, and ale orowiing up to
tAc .e.. eA-.n4 .no" advance OF tue
arrival u migratory hocIs OF sheep. Near
Stockton farmer w..s so Overrun with them
tllal tlev not Olty filled his we'll hnt
forced their way into his house, which, in de-
spair and disgust, he was finally Obliged to
sh ut up aud leave.
vanderbilt's Homo Life.
How THE RICHEST MAN IN AMERICA LOOKS
AFTER HIS DIEr-WH.AT lie EATS,
From the New York Cook.
"Since my boyhood,' said Mr.. VIM, Fl. Van