American Falls press. [volume] (American Falls, Idaho) 1907-1937, 1918-01-22
BIOGRAPHY OF JIMHILL

Several enemies of the farmer re-
Gently held a conference to debate
ways and means to best accomplish
their work of destruction in the season
Of 1918. The ground squirrel, the
pocket gopher, the field mouse, the cut
worm and the grasshopper were pres
ent, and each and every one Of them
we're full Of enthusiasm.
A big, fat squirrel dominated the
conference and told about how it ate
the roots of any old thing that was
planted in field and garden, and how il
made havoc in general. The cut-worm,
however, seemed to take little stock
in the Dragging squirrel and tainted
it by saying:
Yes, and the first trap set for o
fpS@ the kibosh on all your activities
and then you amount to just as much
as does the smoke of a cigarette after
an ArbOn Valley zephyr has taken a
whack at it,"
The squirrel was so taken aback
by the taunt that it had nothing to
say for quite awhile; but, being an
industrious little devil, it improved it's
time by sharpening its teeth in prepa-
ration for spring and summer work.
The cut-worm held the floor for a
long time, ridiculing the rest of the
assembly for being so easily enticed
into traps; it also mentioned 10 the
abashed bunch hat they were so
greedy at all times that any old kind
Of poison spread for them in any old
place was eagerly eaten and an end
put to their career They had to ad-
nit that the cut-worm was right and
that the only reason why they existed
at all was because some farmers failed
10 get after them by the methods men
toned and thus allowed them to in
crease in sufficient numbers to over
run some sections of the county. The
cut worm took considerable pride in
the fact that scientists had not dis
covered a means to put a quick end
10 the activities of his tribe. What he
feared most, he said, was a hard rain
along about the fore part of the sum-
mer.
The grasshopper spoke up after a
while and stated that he had worked
in great numbers, believing in the loo
trine of united effort. He bemoaned
the facY that many of his aggregation
fell victims to the farmers who get up
early in the morning and spread a lot
o. dope around the fields which, when
eaten, has the effect of making good"
grasshoppers of them. He got a good
deal of consolation out of the lack of
cooperation of ranchmen and farm
ers in applying this method of exter-
hination. What the grasshopper said
about the farmers turning loose a
bunch of chickens and turkeys to prey
bn them in the fields is not permitted
10 be published in this journal; nor
What he said about the two-legged
HIN uG that 0rah him in thn atfar ~
IF the summer and the early fall. put
aim in a tobacco can. impale him on
hook attached 10 a fine line. and
hen throw the hook into a brook to
let some hungry trout grab it; he said
nat sometimes the fish is yanked out
70 quickly that the same grasshopper
Viii serve to catch two or three of the
shumps. 1t made the grasshopper sad
o think that many of his relatives
Ime to such an end.
The pocket gopher and the field
house wer2 about to take the floor and
tut up a fttle talk of what they in
fnded to do the coming season. but
bey never got a fair chance; a breeze
lad sprung Up, originating somewhere
the lava rocks west of Pleasant
ALLEY, and on its wings a bunch of
@mhill mustard came merrily rolling
aOng and asked what was doing. When
bid of the object of the meeting, it
tsumed the leadership OF the assem-
hy in its d~omineering way and pro-
eeded to tell them what's what in
ne way of injuring the farmer.
You guys are all insignificant pix
es.' he began. for you work only a
art of the year; in the winter time
Du, that is those of you who survive
de traps and the poison. crawl into
Dur underground den and sleep the
winter away when you might just as
Yell be at work. Look at me: l have
9t the busy bee beaten a hundred