Year: 1875

Ravagcs of the VOracious Insects in Ne


braska.


A correspondent of the Chicago
Tribune, writing from Brownvillo, Ne
maha county, Nebraska, gives the fol-
lowing vivid description of the ghastly
ruin wrought in that section by the
grasshoppers


Nemaha is one of the four counties SO
terribly damaged by grasshoppers this
year, and assure you that nothing that
has been written equals the frightful
reality of this plague. Had 1 not seen
it with my own eyes no one could have
made me believe that SO small an insect
could produce such rayages.


ALI along the river bottom the ground
is bare and barren as if swept by fire,
and on. ascending the bluffs l found the
trees stripped of their leaves and the
points of the limbs white as bone.
Not spear of grass was visible in
or shrub to be seen anywhere.
earth, and it is brown and parched
as if dried by fire. The people here
prided themselves on their beautifully
laid out and well-kept grounds, and a
few weeks ago the yards were green as
an emerald and the trees covered with
luxuriant foliage. Flowers bloomed
everywhere, and the houses nestled
among the green trees. ALI is now
barren waste. Thousands on thousands
of grasshoppers crawled about the
streets, covered the fences, and lined the
sidewalks. Some of them were so small
and young they could not get out of the
way, and were crushed to death beneath
the feet of the passers-by and under the
wheels of wagons and carriages. Others
were large and strong, and flew away
by hundreds only to be replaced
by new hundreds apparently descend
ing from the sky. The stencil from
dead grasshoppers at one time became
so great the people feared disease and
cleaned the town of their carcasses. They
crawled everywhere, lighted on my
clothes, and even in my face. If the
plaques of Egypt were any worse than
these, then the Egyptians ought yet to
be remembered with pity and sympathy
by all civilized nations. 1t is useless for
me to attempt to describe it to yor-it
must be seen and endured to be under
stood, and assure you never fully re-
allied until to-day what the grasshopper
plague was. Countless millions have
been passing overhead all day high in
the air, but the people seem to care very
little whether they descend or not, as all
is taken, and think the farmers would
rather delight to see the disappointment
of the millions who could come down
only to find their ravenous predecessors
had eaten up all there was for even
grasshopper's supper.


To-day I rode out to Gov. Furna's
place about two miles from the city.
He had beautiful farm, well stocked,
hedged, and the best nursery in the
county of 160 acres in fruit, and not a
tree escaped. Twenty acres of peach
orchard, on which few days ago hung
5000 bushels of peaches, are completely
ruined Not 2 peach remains and the
trees are leafiess as if in mid-winter.
Many of them are badly eaten and will
die. The apple-orchards are still worse.
the soft wood of this years growth being
eaten, and the bark stripped from the
limbs. They look white as picked bones,
and many of them are already dying.
Tho nursery plants are eaten down to
the ground. The Governors loss is over
500, 900, and it will take him five or ten
years to replace his fine orchards.
Millions of grasshoppers were still
at work on the trees eating the bark
and soft wood. They rose in swarms
around us at every step of the horses,
and we could distinctly hear the whirring
noise of their wings. witnessed grass
hopper-rise, as it is called. Thousands
commenced going up into the air and
circling about. could hken it to moth
ing but bees swarming. They filled the
air in countless millions and then struck
off northwest. In the corn they were
still at work. Not spear was to be seen
above the earth, but on going to the hills
1 found them sticking in the ground eat
ing the roots. Some had burrowed over
an inch deep in search of the green
plants. rode over four miles and saw
not living green thing but a little milk
weed and some sumach bushes, and here
and there patch of prairie grass. All
the tame grass seemed to be taken. One
farmer was at work replanting, but most
of them were at home waiting results,
and those 1 spoke to seemed greatly dis
couraged.


A good many farmers are in town, dis
cussipg the situation. They say they
will replant if they can get seed. Gen.
Brisbin is here encouraging the farmers
to plant all their ground again, and urg.
ing the merchants to give them liberal
credit. A meeting will be held at the
Court House tonight to devise ways and
means for getting seed and determine
what it is best to SOW. In some localities
the farmers are clubbing together and
signing joint note, which is Endorsed
by rich farmers, and then discounted in
bank, the proceeds to be at once invest
ed in seed