36 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



ARMY VVORiMS AND GRASSHOPPERS. 



In August, 1855, our first gre.it enemy made its appearance without any 

 ^^aruiug. First, as our oats were ready to harvest, the army worms com- 

 menced their ravages and made sad havoc in their path. Where they came 

 from, or where they left ofi' their labors, I never could ascertain. Their course 

 was northerly. The next year we made the acquaintance of the grasshoppers, 

 a more formidable enemy that came jumping down, taking a southerly direction. 

 This vast army ate everything before it. In the forest, saplings were peeled 

 by them, and all herbage seemed to be devoured indiscriminately. The farms 

 on the prairies suffered more seriously than elsewhere, and, with the exception 

 of pea vines, every crop was devoured. They laid their eggs in the ground, 

 and thei'e was, to those unacquainted with their habits, a question as to what 

 would come next, but the next year solved the question. The eggs hatched, 

 and where we had previously one full-grown grasshopper we now saw twenty. 

 So numerous were they, in fact, that one could not walk without crushing them 

 on the ground, while the air, as high as they could jump — some six ft.et — was 

 alive with them. They turned neither to the right nor the left, but kept a 

 straight forward course. If they ca^ue in contact with a house or other build- 

 ing, they would crawl up the side and over the roof, going down on the opposite 

 side. If a window or door chanced to be open in their track, they entered, 

 and did not hesitate to feed upon anything they came in contact with — clothing, 

 tobacco, shoes, even thick cowhide boots were ruined by them. We had 

 planted our crops as usual in the spring, and everything was eaten as soon as 

 it came up, so that on ploughed ground not even a weed was to be seen. Their 

 depredations continued until the last of June, when they all rose on the wing 

 simultaneously, and in two hours after not a grasshopper was to be seen. A 

 h&ivy rain followed the next day, and we secured that fall a good crop of corn 

 and potatoes. So vast was the number of these grasshoppers, that on their 

 departure there seemed to be a heavy cloud in the air which dimmed the light 

 of the sun, then shining brightly. 



These were three years of no ordinary trials. During the fall of the last 

 grasshopper season (1857) the great financial panic came upon us with a crash 

 that weakened the laith of holders of corner lots and paper towns most seri- 

 ously. In our enterprise we had laid out towns all over the State, many of 

 them not more than a mile apart, and thousands of us had reckoned on future 

 wealth. Wild lands, beautifully located, which had been purchased at $1 25 

 \yeY acre in the winter of 1856, were surveyed and city plats were recorded. 

 In 1857 the lots were sold to eager buyers at fifty dollars ])cr lot, and not even 

 a log cabin on the section. Some improved their purchases, but nearly all 

 purchased " on speculation." But the financial wave swept over our fair State 

 and deluged the embryo cities, most of which, with their proprietors, were 

 carried so far out of monetary circles that they have not been heard of since. 

 Occasionally one passes, in travelling, the rums of some deserted house, which, 

 upon inquiry, proves to be a hotel of a town site which was mortgaged for 

 treble its real value in 1857, and "thereby hangs a tale." 



The sensible and energetic men now showed of what they Avcre composed. 

 TTiey v.^ent to work with a good will to recover from their losses. Agriculture, 

 the great resort for the wealthy and retired citizen, also ofi'ers a good support 

 to the bankrupt and destitute. Industry took the place of wild speculation 

 and town sites on unceded lands. Immigration poured in, and our young State 

 was making great leaps for future prosperity, Avhen suddenly there was a sound 

 iu^our cars — the death-knell and savage war whoop of the 



SIOUX DEPREDATIONS. 



These, in 1862, spread terror in all parts of the State. In August of this 

 year a trouble that had long been held in check reached its culminating pojnt, 



