FROM NAZARETH TO CARLISLE 209 



stump-grubbing, and since he dug more stumps and 

 more skilfully than others he called himself the King 

 of the Grubbers. This business, always difficult, is not 

 so much so in America as in Europe ; because almost 

 everywhere here the roots take no great hold in the 

 earth. A stump-grubber receives 20-24 shillings 

 Pensylv. Current and victuals, for every acre of land 

 he clears ; clearing up an acre in 3-4 days. 



This evening the extraordinary number of locusts, 

 (apparently more numerous here than elsewhere), 

 were making an unspeakable uproar in the near-by 

 garden, woods, and bush. The history of this insect 

 is not yet thoroughly known. They are called locusts 

 and again grass-hoppers. They are said to appear 

 only once in 16 or 17 years in the extraordinary num- 

 bers they show almost everywhere this year. In the 

 year 1766, and thus 17 years ago, they appeared in 

 similar quantities. They deposit their eggs on the young 

 branches of most trees. When, after a few weeks, 

 the sun's warmth has hatched them out, the young 

 descend to the ground, get into holes and remain 

 until after some time they come out in force, chiefly 

 to carry on their breeding. It is claimed that they have 

 been found 30 ft. deep in the ground ; trustworthy 

 people have assured me that they have seen them 8-9 

 ft. deep. Regarding the time they spend in the ground 

 there is uncertainty ; some people hold that they stay 

 in the ground many years, and point to the following 

 circumstance. It is universally the case that these 

 locusts keep in and about woods and nowhere else, and 

 the young creep into the ground immediately where 

 they are. And often they have been observed coming 

 out of the ground in places where for several years 

 14 



