Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-08-20

PICTURE OF PEACE
THE INSECT CROP EATER
A SUNDAY SERMON.
That which the palmer worn
hath left hath the locust eaten, and
that which the locust hath left
hath the canker worm eaten and
that which the canker worm hath
left hath the caterpillar eaten
Joel IA.
\ GRICULTURE was a risky
"A calling even from the begin
ming, and the growing crops were
always in peril from insect pests in
Palestine and elsewhere. The
prophet Joel was a pessimist and he
predicted crop failure by insect
pests because the children Of Israel
had neglected their religious du-
ties. The palmer worm, which he
said would begin the work of de-
struction, was something like our
cut worms and attacked the young
growing stalks of grain. The
loeusts were first cousins to the
grasshopper plaques, and the canker
worms were a kind of caterpillar
which does not trouble US much.
But the grasshopper has been a
most unwelcome visitor with many
q Montana farmer this summer. His
board and lodging has cost US dear.
W. do not know how much the
total cos has been, but it would
be represented by a big sum. While
locust and the grasshopper are first
cousins, scientists make a distinc-
ton between them on account of
the length of their horns or some
other slight difference. but their
habits are much the same. The
short horned locusts Of Asia came
in swarms that darkened the sun
and stripped the country bare of
every green thing. People died of
famine in some eastern countries
after such an invasion. The long
horned grasshopper does not come
in such vast swarms, but its vora-
cious appetite has, some years, re-
suited in an almost total loss of
crops in some localities. The year
1856 was such a year in the United
States. The year 1874 was an
other such year. Pretty nea the
whole country west of the Missis-
sippi river suffered from the
scourge Of grasshoppers that year
The present year has brought US
more grasshoppers than we need
fof fishing purposes. In fact, they
have almost assumed the proper
tons of a scourge. You can find
them baking themselves on the &C.
ment sidewalks in the city of Great
Falls by the hundreds, and many of
our city gardens show CHASTITY evil
dence of the ruin they can bring to
tender vegetation. In spots in the
country also the grain fields have
suffered heavily from their depreda-
tions. The grasshopper is an insect
Of ancient lineage. AS far back as
the time Of Moses you hear about
him. In fact, 1t was one of the
curses that Moses brought down on
Pharoah because he hardened his
heart and would not let Israel 60.
"And Moses stretched forth his rod
over the land of Egypt, and the
Lord brought an east wind upon the
land all that day and all that night,
and when it vas morning the east
wind brought the locusts. And the
locusts went up over all the land of
Egypt, and rested in all the coasts
of Egypt. Very grievous were they.
Before them were no such locusts
they. Neither after them shall
there BE- such. For they covered
the face of the earth, SO that the
land was darkened and they did eat
every herb of the land. and all the
fruit of the trees that the hail had
left. And there remained not any
green thing on the trees or on the
herbs of the field. through all the
land of Egype." And the story
goes on to say that Pharaoh sent
for Moses in haste and said he
would let the children of Israel 20
If God would take away from him
this death only" 1t was the first
grasshopper plague that we read of
in history and about the worst.
The old testament prophets were
given to using the grasshopper as a
symbol of destruction. The armies
IF the Midianites were as numerous
- grasshoppers which came up to
destroy the land of Palestine. Jere-
miah told them that the foreign
enemy that would invade them