34 



estimate the tilled area in the ravaged district at 275,000 acres, and of the area in wheat in 

 that district at 200,000 acres. Of this area, probably not less than 150,000 acres have 

 been destroyed. This represents not less than 2,500,0(0 bushels of wheat devoured in the 

 germ by the grasshoppers, or about one-twelth of the wheat crop of the state. Add to this 

 area .50,000 acres of oats, at 33 bushels per acre, or 1 ,320,000 bushels in all, or one-twelfth of 

 the oat crop of the state ; 20,000 acres of corn, at 32 bushels per acre, 340,000 bushels, or 

 one twelfth of the corn crop of the state, and perhaps 20,000 acres more in rye, buckwheat, 

 barley, potatoes and other crops — and the full extent of the grasshopper havcc cannot be 

 easily estimated." 



Our readers may further judge of the extent of the calamity and sufferings consequent 

 upon it, from the following Pastoral Letter, issued by the Bishop of Minnesota, and appointed 

 to be rend in all the Churches in his Diocese : — To the Clergi/ and Congregations of the Diocese, 

 of Minnesota : You are aware that several counties of the State have been desolated by locusts. 

 In May I visited Martin county and saw the beginning of their ravages. I laid the f icts 

 before the Governor. The plague has increased. .Many homes are desolated. They have 

 the right to lo ik to us for relief. They are our own flesh and blood. They are our brothers. 

 They are God's children. The scourge is an awful one. It may be for our sins. It may 

 be to try our faith in God. It may be to test our humanity. 



I ask your prayers and your alms. I recommend that an offering shall be taken U|i on 

 the last Sunday in July, and that a further special contribution of money and provisions 

 shall also be taken at our Annual Harvest Home Festival. 



Please send your offerings to Hon. Isaac Atwater, Minneapolis, who will send them to 

 the Committee in St. Paul. 



Praying God to bless you, 



Your friend and Bishop, 



H. B. Whipple. 



Extract from a Widouj's leiter in Brown County. 



" I mortgaged my farm to get seed last Spring. All is lost. What to do I do not know. 

 It would take a tear out of a stone to hear tlie people talk. I had a nice piece of Larley al- 

 most ready to cut. There is nothing left but the straw, the heads lying thick on the ground. 

 Dear Bishop, I am almost heart-broken, and nearly crazy, to think of the long, cold winter, 

 and nothing to depend on. May God help ua. May the Lord look to every orphan and 

 widow, and put it in the hearts of His children to help." 



"The widow must not plead in vain." 



The Bishop also issued a form of prayer for relief from the plague of locusts, to be used 

 in the Churches throughout his Diocese. 



From the September " Report of the Department of Agriculture," at Washington, we cull 

 the following note from Kansas : — " The late summer and fall crops have been almost entirely 

 destroyed by grasshoppers. The common jumping grasshopper did much damage through 

 the early part of the season, but about the middle of August clouds of the flying ones made 

 their appearance over the county, devouring and destroying vast quantities of vegetation. 

 Gardens were quickly eaten up, corn-fields were stripped of leaves, and in many cases the corn 

 was entirely eaten off ; fruit trees are left with naked branches, and in many cases the half- 

 ripened fruit is left hanging on the trees, presenting a sickening sight of death and destruction. 



In addition to the actual loss by devastation, the loss caused by discouragement will be 

 greater. Years of patient waiting, hard work, and self-sacrifice have been destroyed in a few 

 days, with no known remedy for protection— just as the fruits of labour were beginning to be 

 realized, destruction came — and the question with many is, " Is it of any use to try again ? " 



Here is a field for the Department of Agriculture. Some method of protection or relief 

 must be had against the destruction of this insect, or an immense tract of magnificent country 

 will never be what it would without this curse. I am one of those who believe all such things 

 may be controlled by some practical method ; it only requires study, enterprise and means 

 to learn how. This county (Doniphan) could well afford to pay .f 100,000 for a guarantee that 

 no grasshoppers should ever trouble it aga^n. I have learned that vegetation highly culti- 

 vated and growing vigorously is less liable to be destroyed than when on the decline or 

 growing feebly. Thus it is we often see a single tree in an orchard eaten even to the bark. 



