Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1901-08-22
THE GRAssHoPPER.

mology, IN washington, unuer Ihe dl-
rection of Prof. L. 0. Howard. These
germs are to be sent in bottles to far
mers in the grasshopperinfected por-
tions of the United States, with direc-
tions for their use. The fungus or
germ is obtained from South Africa,
where it has been used with great sue
cess recently, vast armies of grasshOp-
pers having been wiped out by it. tits
propagated artifcially by applying a
bit of it to sterilized preparation OF
gelatin and blood serum, on which the
germs multiply rapidly. Thus pre-
pared, the culture" are sent out in
glass tubes, corked with red wax, each
one being inclosed in pasteboard
cylinder.
In Colorado last summer there was
an outbreak of fungus disease among
grasshoppers and quantities Of the
deadinsects were shipped to Washing
ton and utilized there for making
"cultures. A whitish, threadlike
growth on the bodies of the victims
furnished the requisite germs. These
"cultures" have been distributed dur
ing the present year in Colorado, ex-
perimentally, while the disease from
South Africa is being tried in Texas.
On receiving a bottle of the fungus
the farmer is directed by an accompa-
nying printed slip to put a number of
live grasshoppers in a wooden box, to-
gether with a portion Of the germ ma
terial. They will quickly become in
fected, when he may liberate all but
half-dozen or so.
These, when dead, will serve to
communicate the disease to other liv-
ing grasshoppers, placed in the box
for that purpose, The box should be
covered with Stats to admit air and
some grass should be put in also,
dampness encouraging the growth of
the fungus. As fast as they are in
fected the hopper" are to be set free
in the fields to distribute the plague
among their fellows.
The grasshopper is one of the most
serious problems encountered by the
farmer in the West. Owing to the
settlement of great areas which for
merly were its permanent breeding
grounds, producing regular and enor-
nous crops Of the voracious pests every
year, the insect no longer appears in
those mighty swarms that used to ar
rive like devastating armies and de-
your everything green. But even now
adays not a season passes that the
choppers" do not appear in alarming
numbers in some parts ofthe country,
destroying the crops and bringing
great loss or even ruin to the helpless
agriculturist.
There is even now plague Of grass
hoppers in the West and Southwest,
and farmers are much alarmed. Start
ling reports on the subject are coming
in from New Mexico, Colorado, Wy
oming and Nebraska, but the situation
in Southern Texas seems to be worse
than anywhere else. One correspond
ent says that 1.-The wheatfelds are alive
with 'hoppers, another states that
"desolation is imminent" and third,
writing from North Platte, Neb., re-
marks that this is the year Of the
pest in that region.
Twenty-six years ago the Big and
Little Blue rivers, tributaries Of the
Missouri, were crossed at numerous
places by vast bodies of the insects,
which would proceed to the waters
edge and begin jumping in, one upon
another, until they actually pontooned
the stream.
Two of these hosts chanced to meet
one moving eastward and the other
westward-on a river bluff in the
same locality, and both turning their
course together downward from per-
pendicular cliff 80 feet high, they
passed over it in sheet six or seven
inches thick, with q roaring noise ike
that of a cataract of water. 1t is
stated on reliable authority that grass
hoppers have been seen to swim over
the Dulester river, in Europe. for a
stretch of one and a quarter miles in
layer more than half foot thick.
Nothing short Of FIRE will check the
progress of an army of grasshOppers
on the march. Water, unless in wide
rivers, is no bar to their PROCESS. Be-