A PLAGUE OF GRASSHOPPER.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XII, Issue 24, 27 January 1877, Page 4

A PLAGUE OF GRASSHOPPER.

\ The following original and characteristic acco|nt of ' the (gfas^bopper plague ia taken from a private letter from an American gentleman : — I I Saline County, Kan., Sep. 8, 1876' c^safa^f; ! ißghl |g aihat na^r|;| \ijfa^ contest ia unequal. «atu'ref caring n more for man than for a grasshopper. Ah 1 the " hoppoF.V7T6.day I lost 60 a;res of wheat, eaten into the ground in lass than an hour. I thought I had/f&n ldofiKt& butl 9as mfataken. At about tan o'clock tliia morning I noticed a heavy smoke r eiog in the west. I said to myself ' That is a strange-looking smoke. What causes it ? ' I sat on my wheatd rill and watched it. Rapidly it arose. £ moke rising to the south, to the north, aid to the north-eaat. In a few moments the column of smoke extended from the south around by the west to : the north-west.— to the extreme limit of vision. While I was saying to myself ' Yes, I understand you now,' my > heart slowly sank. Unhitching my tdam, I put my full wheat sacks in the vsjagoD, hitched to it, drove to the ! granary, unloaded, drove to the house, gpt my guo, and went prairie-chicken shooting. My wife looked at me in aild surprise. Quitting work on a ' b iautiful day to go shooting wms a queer tiling ehe thought. I did not have the heart to tell her that in lesa than four hours her nice garden would be cleaned out, and that all our wheat would be gpne. Soon (he low hum, as of a threshing machine, was in the air — the advance of the locusts. Louder, louder, : ■ e|erTo^erthe~ hum, : tilMo a : roar the cpuptl&sa hilHpjisjof devour er,s r wera on ! us, 'all 'airb'un'd 1 us. .'The air 'was stiff , With them; ; I , conld look at r the sun ; >wjth,out blinking^ The-y, Betiled,eoostanilyi <: 'Rhe /ie>r ; th wjiß : cpyered . wi th. them ji yet not one in a thousand atopr ;psd. To the east they went in a J vast L - J cljoud. A west wind, a T gale f blew them. .' ;Ppr anc'liour'g'they flew — a aolid cloud; and to-night there is not a wheat plant lejft in ,«j»y. »f . ihe oouotieg about here. I ; sat on a hill and watched them, and SEiil&d ds laaw; some hundreds tackle' a at nflower^ and jaaghed as .1] saw that sunflower vanish..' How; thiek they were I How harmless they looked ; i b^t, great JoTve, how tVey ate! (Afil '■; what, appet'ipeV i^hejf ,haveT r . JC wbfifii rakke a dyspeptic man turn green with . et|vy to see the 1 way they fasten to any- . tHi6g ; " and -everything •' edible. The ct aracterisiip of a grassfiopper's appeti ,&.i^, thjt a|l he eata run? to appetite. S xty acres :OjF, my- wheat,. was up. Now / it is dpwa'the gullets of the locusts. I siippoaa they will take tho residua as it cqmes: through the .ground* W^IJ,,! sbjatl have to re-seed, that is all. But th!e Joaajotaeed and labor ia_ pretty sore od mo this day, I have joy in saying ; that -t have ; e^ihty of< (join thiat will try their teeth somewhat. It is as harJj.as-cofquc&a be. I walked down this" afterooon to see how they were mjikjog j out with.it. They had the stilus aFI", elripped of |eayes, , and were sawing at the corn.; but I saw it w|a no go; their teeth slipped over .the bright yellow surface. 1 have, gone to hay ipg .' again, and will bay until the locusts leave^ 1 shall keep ' three ploughs running, and will re-seed as eopn as poesible. Our garden is per-

feotly bleared j t cabbages, tom&> thes, melooe, everything utterly gone, Tb^ .viaea pf.^ha g9tat^aa.ar9 vr .goi?9, i ||od. am' i : ! exp^pti^g, ;^Tbp f fß.;^6p|ef, qp'JKp^' at any mid ate 16' request' elie' loan of f & s|)ade to dig op my po£aV3Q| with. I s^ali refuse bis reqaast with scorb.'*