RECENT INVENTIONS FOR INSECT DESTRUCTION. 



325 



vided with a pair of crushing-rollers, as shown in figure 5, »between 

 which the insects are crushed. The ma- 

 chine is supported upon two wheels, one in 

 the rear of the other. The body is hopper- 

 shaped, with a j)air of crushing-rollers at WZZM^ 

 the bottom. On each side there are re- ^~-^— -^ 



volving-wings, which sweep the insects 

 into the hopper, and in addition to these 

 there are two gathering-fingers, which 

 supijort the vines during the passage of 

 the machine. 



" The destructive insects, popularly known in this country by the name 

 of grasshoppers, but which in our version of the Bible and other works 

 in the English language are called locusts, have, from a period of very 

 high antiquity, attracted theT attention of mankind by their lamentable 

 ravages. It should be here remarked that in America the name of locust 

 is very improperly given to the Cicada of the ancients, or the harvest-fly 

 of English writers." — Harris. In what may be here presented, the terms 

 "locust" and "grasshopper" may be taken to mean one and the same 

 insect, of which there are a number of species, all of which belong to the 

 order Orthoptera. From accounts we have in the Bible, and the relation 

 of modern travelers in the East, we learn that this insect has again and 

 again proved a terrible scourge to the inhabitants of that quarter. Al- 

 though the ravages of locusts in America have not been so destructive as 

 in the eastern continent, yet they have been sufficiently formidable to at- 

 tract attention, and not unfrequently have laid waste considerable tracts 

 of country, and thus have occasioned no little loss to the cultiva- 

 tors of the soil. More than a hundred years ago different parts of 

 New England suffered severely from the ravages of locusts. It is 

 stated in Williamson's History of Maine that in 1743 and 1756 they cov- 

 ered the whole country and threatened to devour every green thing. 

 Indeed, so great was the alarm they occasioned among the people, that 

 days of fasting and prayer were appointetl on account of the threatened 

 calamity. 



Colorado, Kansas, Minnesota, and other Northwestern States and 

 Territories have, of late years, suffered severely from this locust- 

 scourge. A convention of governors has been held to devise ways and 

 means to stay their destructive ravages, and a commission has been 

 created by Congress to investigate the gubject, and, if possible, to 

 devise means of relief. 



