The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1902-09-19

with alarming rapidity throughout the
State, and into adjoining States, until
there was such a succession of crop
distinctions that the inhabitants were
reduced to starvation. Efforts were
made then to destroy the plague and
to invent some means of checking its
further spread Coal oil was distrib-
uted throughout the infected districts
to destroy the insects, but this priml-
tive and clumsy method seemed to
have little sensible effect in diminish
ing their numbers.
Farmers and their families spent
their summers in destroying locusts.
In the Dakotas and Iowa their num-
bers became so great that people were
in despair. 1t was impossible to raise
crops If they were raised the swarms
of locusts would destroy them before
they reached maturity. By the spring
of 1875 and 1876 the great Northwest
had nearly reached the limit of patience.
Bankruptcy stared the whole north
western group of States in the face.
In the autumn of 1876 the Governors
of Minnesota, Missouri, Kansas, Ne
braska, Dakota and Iowa met at Oma-
ha to discuss the plague and devise
some means of averting the ruin that
was para!N zing their fertile land. Emi-
nent entomologists met with the Gov
ernors in this conference, but all that
science could suggest had been tried,
. and the conference broke up without
anything more definite being reached
than the calling Of general day Of
prayer.
A strange coincidence, or, as some
will have it, a divine answer TO the
public prayers, followed the Goth day
OF April set aside for this purpose. A
few warm days brought the locusts
from their winter hiding places in
great numbers. and then a cold wave
suddenly developed in the Northwest,
and the unmatched larvae and young
locus.s were almost totally destroyed
by the FROST which spread over the
whole aill c,rd sections.
1t was estimated that billions and
| bill 0nS pt ruus of he locuSts and their
Young larvp were dcs' royed 10y this
cold wave, coming, rs it did, right
after \ few days of halmy spring
weather. 1t was the only thing that
saved the Northwts st from bankruptcy
and from a period of depression that
would have lasted to this day. The
millions OF dollars lost through crop
destruction had caused many to emf
CRATE from their homes, leaving their
farms in many Instances just as they
were, and fleeing from the plague as
did the ancient Egyptians. The awful
scre, ch and noise made by the locusts
maddrnrd and crazed men, women and
children, and the days became horrible
nightmares which bave never since
been equalled.
The locust plague passed years ago,
and for twenty-five years there have
been only occasional reminders of it in
visitations of the insects in few iso-
lated sections. There has been no
general spread OF it as in 1878 7G.
Under modern methods Of checking
insect development it would be impos.
sib,e for the locusts ever again to mul.
Liply in such vast numbers. There
are great locust plaques occasionally
in Sou'h Africa and South America,
and they spread AS thick!y over the
country as they did in the Northwest
a quarter of a century ago; but it is
not likely that another such visitation
will ever appear in this country.
Another great plague, which Visited
the West fifteen and twenty years ago,
anil which occasionally develops into
huge proportions today, is that caused
by the chinch bug, which has until
quite recently been called the "costIi-
est insect in America" This famous
bag las caused a hundred million do.-
lars worth Of damage to crops in a
single year. AS far back as 1850 the
bl.s appeared in such numbers that
the grain crops of single State, llli-
nois, w,rr dana eel To the extent of
four million dollars. / bad appear Il
previous to this in Indiana and WIS
consin, causing considerable injury to
the crops. Periodically it appeared
then in great numbers in widely sepa-
rated regions. In 1868 to 1865 it
caused great damage, but in 1871 it
caused Il total loss Of OVER 100000
to the farmers But even this WAS
merely slight indication of what it
might do in time In 1874 it broke
loose in Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Kan
sas, Nebraska, Wisconsin and Indiana,
a ~,