Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1901-08-01
UNCLE SAM TO FIGHT GRASSHOPPERS.
Proposes to Spread Plague Among Them in New and Novel Man
ner--Is Putting Up Bottled Disease to be Shipped
to Afflicted Districts.

l
one moving eastward and the other
| westward, on a river blum In the same
| locality, and, both turning their course
together, downward from a perpendic
nlar clif thirty feet high they passed
over II in sheet six or seven inches
thlok. with roaring noise like tnat or
a cataract OF water II Ia stated on re
liable authority that grasshoppers hav.
been seen TO swim over the Dnlestcr
river IN Europe, for stretch Of ONE
ana quarter miles In a layer more
than half a foot thick.
Nothing short Of fire viii check the
progress of an army OF grasshoppers Oh
the march. Water unless In wide rlv
ers, Is no bar 10 their progress. Be
fore their. advance the unfortunate
farmers are Well nigh helpless. The
plague arrives, and 10! as II by magic,
the crops are swept from the face OF
the earth.
AS for the 'hoppers' they sow their
own crop, planting in one season the
eggs which are TO be Matched In the
next. The female drills a hole In the
ground with the horny tip OF her alb
domen, and In this she lays about
twenty eggs which are bound togeth
er IN mass with mucus excreted by
me mother insect The burrow IL
1lled up with mucus, which makes II
watertight.
Now the farmers best chance Is to
destroy the Unmatched eggs, and this
ne tries to do in various ways. the most
effective perhaps being to slice off an
men OF the top soil. dry IL and pass Il
through sleeves 10 separate the egg
masses, which are buried In deep pits.
IN the wheat growing regions burning
machines, which are open CRATES on
runners, filled with lighted pltchplne,
are drawn by horses across the fields
another method consists in digging plts
INTO which the swarms are driven, with
the help OF widespread wings Of canvas
stretched on sticks
Inc eggs are enveioped In tough III.
Tie capsules, not easily broken by pres.
cure between thumb and finger but
when ready 20 hatch the coat OF the
oVum Is dissolved and releases the In.
sect. When new born the young grass
hopper is covered with sort of Ven
which presently splits along the hack
uno ls Kicked off behind. So long a.
there is plenty OF food In the neigh
porhood he does not move about much
but when the available proyender is az,
nausted he starts out 10 look for an.
other spot.
II is In this way that the great ,nipra
lions are begun, an army Of era ss5on-
pers on the march being often as yn,,ch
as mile wide. They cover the ground
aenseiy de,youring as they go all grass.
two such armies cross each other hv,
ttCn KRpnu YfnHf
course. V""
II Is when grasshoppers deyelon ,helr
m,uss lhat tney become really rapid I'm
uueir movements. Some species Of them
mnle certain kinds have only rudl-
,pnelllary wings. and 50 cannot fly at all.
. clouds OF the insects some-
sliiss pass over the plains and thnly
s ',, regions OF the Northwest. trav-
siils az rate OF two hundred or three
favorable, s
Some grasshoppers are among rho
most beautiful insects In The worid
WIN wings resembling In beauty and
ueucacy OF hues the petals OF lowers
with many variations.
There are some Of huge alza uhioh
nave a spread Of nine inches or more
IRON wing ~ to wing Tin hnybodv
VINO VIII examine a gragshopper cannot
Tall 20 admire the beauty on ne con.
struction. and particularly OF the arn,or
~ which It is clad. though II Is peace
able creature and by no means inclined
70 combat. ''''N"
IN emma grasshoDpers are fearful
plague az timea. and occasionally the
government orders out the soldiers 70
repel the invaders. Each soldier car
res, instead Of gun. q coarse hemnen
bag attached to a bamboo pole which
win vide open mouth. II used is net
A bounty Is also paid 10 farmers for
the dead insects AZ forty sens nor
pound. and for the eggs they collect
But the most effective destroyers arc
ducks, which are driven over the infest.
ed fields in fiocks numbering thousands
ana gorge themselves greedily with The
hoppers. '' '''
IN that country there is a curious ana
widespread belief In the existence ~
King Grasshopper called Wang of
colossal size and supernatural
character who hovers invisible in the
upper regions Of the air. directing the
migrating swarms Sacrifices are made
to him to persuade him to spare the
particular locality In which his petit
TONERS dwell.