Year: 1875

Working hs Way Eastward---Already at

 ChicagO---Where is the End to Bes

 The Chicago Tribune says: The great army of grasshoppers that poured its vast multltudes over the Northwest last summer reached far in this direction, the van penetrating as far as Vincennes, Ia., although not in sufficient force to make any general devastation. An ir- regular triangle with that for it's apex and the Rocky mountains for its base, would include the territory thus far swept over by the victorious pest, in- cluding large portions of Kansas and Missouri, almost all of Minnesota, Ne braska, Iowa, and Dakota. The question which now agitates the commercial in terests of the country is: Can the grass hoppers be kept within that territory, or will they, as some predict, overrun Can ada, northern New York, and the East ern States It is held that in thickly- settled parts of the country, where small farms abound, there can be no great danger from them, as the birds and do- mestic fowls will keep down their num- bers, but if the invasion is made by such overwhelming hosts as defeated all measures of protection last summer, such instrumentalities will have little efficiency at first, however powerfully they may thin their ranks in course of time. And even in the event of the ad- vancing plague being successfully stayed in it's progress east, it can hardly be ex- pected that Illinois, lying as it does on the border line, and already partially in vaded, will escape the attack of voracious legions, if the vast hordes of grasshop- pers shall issue forth again. The intense cold of last winter and the protracted frosts of the spring have been relied upon by the agricultural community to etfectually rid them of this plague. As late as the last day of April there was @ severe freeze, doing much damage to fruit, but which was borne with cheer fitness as being sure death to the grass hoppers.

 The first reports received declared that the eggs had been killed. Now re- ports from some sections say that the pests are matching out in endless quanti- ties, and eating up everything before them.

 The so-called grasshoppers that have been the plague of the West are really 8 species of locust, and have all the voraci- ous appetite and omniverous taste of the genuine African locust. Instead of pro ceeding by jumps like the common grasshopper, these locusts go long dis tances in the air, flying and borne by the wind. They move along at height of from thirty to one hundred yards above the ground, and extending upward as far as the eye can reach. These fly ing swarms are described as looking like green banks of snow when Illuminated by the sunshine, and again like clouds tossing and rolling in @ strong wind. When making their descent upon the country, and under impulsion from the wind, they rattle against the window panes like hail, and beat against the face of whosoever may be out at the time, descending in such myriads that it would be as impossible to escape their contact as it would be to avoid being rained on when out ill Q shower. The concussion of their million of wings on the aiR makes whizzing roar, plainly heard as they fly overhead. It is this ability to make long and high flights that bids fair to make them such Q pest in Chicago. They fly with the wind and without intelligent direction, dropping, after flight of few hours, on any place they may happen to be over, whether land or water, town or country, and at tack destructively whatever they can. The country is stripped bare of green and living things cattle, and even bu- man beings, die of starvation. Gen. Ord, commanding the Military depart ment of the Platte, last fall reported that the bodies of people who died of starva- tion were found by his men in their noorohas and mon and women were dis covered whose only means of subsistence for days was clothing, which they gnawed at like rats. Had it not been for the effects of the charitable all over the country, thousands whose crops had been destroyed by this pest would have starved to death last winter. It remains to be seen what effect so malefic pest will have on great city like Chicago.