﻿172 SEVENTH ANNUAL KEPORT 



ating the vines and sucking out the juices of the berries. In the same 

 year I saw them in countless millions in many parts of Illinois and 

 Missouri. They actually stripped many corn-fields in these States, and 

 had not the crops been unusually abundant, would have caused some 

 suflering. They were very destructive to flower and vegetable gardens. 



In 1869, they were, if anything, worse than in 1868. I remember 

 that in the vicinity of St. Louis, in addition to their ordinary injuries, 

 they stripped the tops of Norway Spruce, Balsam Fir and European 

 Larch ; took the blossoms ofi Lima beans ; severed grape stems, and 

 ate numerous holes into apples and peaches, thereby causing them to 

 rot. They were indeed abundant all over Illinois, Missouri, Iowa and 

 even Kentucky; but attracted no attention East. 



In 1871 they were again very bad, especially East, as the follow- 

 ing items will show : 



The grasshoppers (locusts) have been more numerous and destructive this year in 

 TVIaine than perhaps ever before. This was partly owinff to the dry weather, and with 

 the advent of the rainy season we hope their career will be somewhat checked. In 

 this county they are thick, but in some of the central portions of the State they literally 

 swarm, devouring nearly every green thing belore them. They did much injurj' to the 

 .grass-lields, and now that is cut, they have betaken themselves to the cuUivated crops. 

 In some cases whole fields of corn and beans have been completely stripped. Even the 

 potatoes have not been spared. — \_Coimtry Gentleman, Aug. 10, 1871, speaking of Insects 

 in Maine. 



Grasshoppers are reported to have very seriously injured the corn, grass and grain 

 crops (and in some cases orchards and nurseries) "of the counties of Androscoggin, 

 Franklin, Knox, Kennebec, Lincoln, Oxford, Piscataquis, Penobscot, Waldo and Som- 

 erset, in Maine. So serious has been the damage that the subject was made a topic at the 

 recent State Agricultural Convention in that State. In Androscoggin county, they in- 

 jured pastures greatly and affected the condition and price of stock. Some grain-lields 

 were protected by drawing a rope across the heads at sunset, thus brushing off the 

 insects and preventing feeding. In Franklin county a field of twelve acres of sweet 

 corn was only saved by keeping a man in it continually to drive out the grasshoppers. 

 One man in York county stopped their passage to his fields by building a brush tence 

 around them. — \_America7i Agriculturist, 1871. 



These pests (the locusts) have been numerous and destructive during the past month 

 in some portions of the Eastern States. In Sagadahoc county, Maine, the crops and 

 pastures were injured by them very much ; also in Hancock county. In Franklin many 

 fields of grain were cut to save the crops from them and for feeding. In Oxford oats 

 were " eaten entirely down, as clean as though fed upon by sheep." In some portions 

 of Plymouth county, Massachusetts, they are reported to have eaten everything green. 

 In Caledonia county, Vermont, they have been very destructive. All through Windsor 

 they have been "a terrible scourge." In Orleans they are reported abundant, and in 

 Windham they have done "much injury to some of the crops," In Wayne county, 

 Pennsylvania, also, they are reported to have done much damage. — [Monthly Report 

 Dep. of Agr. for August and September, 1871. 



In 1872 they were again injurious East : 



The grasshoppers are making great havoc on the grass, grain and corn. For a 

 space of about one and a half miles square they are destroying almost everything. 

 Clover is trimmed up all but the head ; oats-fields look like fields of rushes coming up 

 to the hight of 16 to 18 inches without leaf or head. The leaves of wheat and their 

 kernels are eaten out. These hoppei'S move back and forth two or three times a day, 

 and whole sections are almost alive with them. — [Mirror and Farmer, (New Hampshire) 

 August 10, 1872. 



