Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-08-17
Dr.. Hamilton Says They Are Carried
Into the City by Winds,
WHERE THEY DIE OF STARVATION.
Complaints From Commission Merchants
and Housekeeperh
THE ANIMALS FOND OF OLD CLOTHES

along the streets! Iney are ds tnlck aS JACKS
| in box at a side show for children.
The breed OF urchins with stony hearts
whose chief delight is robbhg birds nests
and f1attening the heads of innocent rep
tiles, spend their time in torturing the in
sects, pulling off their heads and wings,
poking out their eyes, and then with the
fendish glee of savages watch them writhe
in the death agony Indeed, that dear,
sympathetic soul, Sam O'Brien, of the HUI
name Society, has been so wrought up that
he VOWS he will make an example ofNsome
of the boys if they don't stop their brutal
work and allow the animals to die in peace
of starvation.
Commission Men Are Complaining.
The commission men on Liberty street
complain of the 'hoppers. They get into
apple barrels, cluster in great groups on the
watermelons and terrify the ladies from the
East End by jumping at them as they
sample fruit This state of affairs can't last
much longer, and the provender men and
dealers in perishable freight have decreed
that the grasshopper must 60. So has Jane,
the servant girl, who is tired Of
sweeping the doorway and front
steps ten times day. The
audacious insects have no respect for the
law, and they pay no attention to the order
of policemen to move on. They like moth
ing better than to dance horn-pipe on
doormat, and 60 to sleep in the vestibules
of houses They hug the walls along the
streets, and go where You will, if you are at
all observant, you will see the lively little
fellows jumping and skip ping like lot of
school boys in spring.
Both Cities Are Suffering.
An invasion of grasshoppers in a city is
unique spectacle. 1t doesn't happen often.
They won't last much longer and people
need not be afraid that one of the plaques
of Pharoah will be repeated. The insects
are worse in Allegheny than Pittsburg, but
they are getting to be as thick as hops
on this side of the river. On the Northside
the insects are fast becoming a pest They
fill up the stores, get into the sugar boxes
and are tramped on the floors. Their flesh
and blood are not the most pleasant sight,
and the store boys are getting tired of SHOW
cling their bodies into the cutters. Their
musical chirp among the potatoes and bar
rels on Liberty street lulls the watchman to
sleep, and these night owls have no objec-
tions to their company.
u The presence of the frisky hoppers was
first noted in Allegheny on Monday. Yes
terday they had crossed the Rubicon, and
were prepared to attack Pittsburg. They
proceeded to hunt up secluded hooks, and
give housekeepers all the trouble they
could. With the grasshoppers came the
katydid and all sorts of peculiar bugs
whose habitat is the field. Just why they
should pay visit to the city at this time is
not hard to explain.
Blamed 1t all Upon MarA
At first it was suggested that Mars must
be in some way responsible. Virgins holds
the planet up to the rack for the intense
heat, and the superstitious blame our solar d
neighbor for d, number of Ills that have
plagued moraHthis summer. Only indi-
rectly, however. can the cause of the insect
swarm be traced to Mars. and that is on con-
dition that the planet has forced the mer-
the men of earth have no particular reason
to be grateful to the ruddy orb.
Dr. j. Hamilton, of Allegheny, is an ep- |
tomologist of consider able reputation. He |
has made a special study of the colloptera |
family, and one of the charms of his office |
is a fine collection of butterflies in cases |
They are used to decorate the walls, and |
The gaudy wings vie with the colors of the |
paper. When asked for the cause of the |
grasshopper visitation yesterday, he laughed
a little, and said it was due to
Then, in very interesting way,
he delivered a talk on the insects. He be-
lieves they are all males, and sad to say
have come into the city to die. There is
nothing unusual in their numbers. but it is
not often that they leave the fields and
openly invade the towns.
Came Here to Havc q Time.
The girls have wisely decided to remain
at home and look after the future of the
race, while the boys, feeling that the fields
were reaped and the crops stored in the
barns, yielded to the temptation to visit the
city, and now they have forgotten the way
back home. May be they are not unhappy.
for nature kindly whispers in their ears
that the time is at hand, and they must pre-
pare to cross the dark and rolling river.
DR.. Hamilton thinks the myriads of grass
hoppers in Allegheny were bred in the
parks and the adjacent country, and he be-
lieves this is the reason why the town is so
full of them. In two weeks they will be
gone, and he says after a good rain of an
hour not one would be seen. The water
kills them, and would carry their bodies
into the sewers
The great number OF the insects is due to
The lack of rain. Several showers have oc-
Cured recently in the two cities, but
scarcely drop has fallen in the country
since July 8. When it rains hard, the
are knocked out, and the nor
nal number of the insects is maintained,
but in dry seasons they accumulate very
rapidly, and spread out over the land.
Brought Here on the Winds.
They leave the fields, and the winds carry
hem into the cities This is one of
he ways DR.. Hamilton says in which
hey have gotten into Pittsburg and
Allegheny. He states that he has
'ften seen them in the country cover the
'ops of tence rails, and if rake was left in
/ field they would gather on the handle like
,ff the outside layers of the wood.
Luckily for the farmers the harvest is
,ver. The grasshoppers now can do little
lamage. They are very fond of oats, tim
,thy and grass But oats is their favorite
lish. They cut off the tops of the stalk
md suck up the juice in the grain. It
makes no difference to them whether the
'ats are standing or reaped. A small matter
Ike this would not interfere with the
loonday meal.
The grasshopper is an omniverous Great
Ire. DIR. Hamilton says they like old
lothes and shoe leather as well as the prod
lets of the field. Without some explain
tion this statement would terrify the
voman who is solicitous about q sealskin
acque and who has enough camphor in the
'o1 to scent palace. Dr. Hamilton was
uick to add that the grasshopper is not as ,
ecretive or destructive as the moth.
They do not rip up the finest clothes and
ut them into shreds out of pure cussed. ,