202 GRASSHOPPERS AND LOCUSTS 



valley, in the summer of 1855, informs us tliat these insects appeared 

 to rise out of the eastern boundaries of the valley, where it is hot, dry, 

 and sandy, and that, on some days, they filled the air so as to obscure 

 the sun. They consumed all garden vegetables, the leaves and bark 

 of the elder tree, and the young leaves and bark of the small branches 

 of the cotton-wood and willow, and even the soft, green parts of the 

 tules or bullrushes. In Stony Creek, in the same county, their dead 

 bodies were seen, at one time, completely covering the surface of the 

 •water for miles in extent. In some parts of this valley they ate 

 through gauze and textile coverings of all kinds^ which had been used 

 to shield animals and plants from their attacks. 



The grasshoppers appeared in 1855 in much larger numbers in 

 the valley of the Sacramento and the mountains which bound it on the 

 eastern or Sierra Nevada side than in any other part of California, 

 and here and in Utah they committed the greatest ravages. In the 

 southern coast counties they were comparatively few in number and 

 did very little injury. They were more troublesome around Los 

 Angelos than anywhere else in the south. 



The Oregon Times of September 29 says: "In the southern part 

 of Oregon, the present season, grasshoppers have been ravaging the 

 country, utterly destroying every green vegetable substance. In cer- 

 tain localities whole nurseries of fruit trees have been killed and 

 entire fields of grain have been destroyed. The grasshoppers infested 

 northern California last year, and seem to be making a pilgrimage 

 through Oregon. This year they have done but little damage on this 

 side of the Calapooia mountains, but are getting quite numerous in 

 Linn, Lane, and Benton counties. They have infested portions of 

 California the past season_, sweeping all before them ; and in Utah 

 they have destroyed at least one-half of the crops. Fences, ditches, 

 or streams seem to present no barriers to their ravages." 



The Great Salt Lake News of 19th September states that ''on 

 Thursday, 29th August, several millions of grasshoppers descended 

 on the settlements north of Utah county, destroying everything green 

 in their way. The county of Tooele was visited by a similar plague." 



The following extract from a Texas paper (Dallas Gazette, No- 

 vember 20, 1855) will show their appearance in that State. " Grass- 

 hoppers are beginning to be troublesome in this vicinity. We hear 

 some of our farmers complaining a great deal of their depredations. 

 Some of the wheat that has been lately sown is completely destroyed, 

 and the fields will have to be replanted. A heavy norther would rid 

 lis of these insects." 



From the various notices of the visits of the Locusta in 1855, 

 made by the periodicals of California, Utah, Washington, and Oregon, 

 it would appear that they are most abundant from the fifteenth of 

 July to the twentieth of September, or a period of sixty-seven days. 

 They would seem also to be at the maturity of their destructive power 

 from the first to the thirty-first of August, which is the hottest and 

 driest month of the year in all these regions. 



It may be remarked, in this connexion, that the summer of 1855, 

 and up to the 3l£t of October, was the driest which has been known 

 for ten years. 



