﻿OP THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 65 



the darkest day ever experienced by the people of the county, does 

 not overstate the true condition of things. From many graphic ac- 

 counts of the outlook in this county, I select the two following, as ac- 

 cording most nearly with my own experience. 



In April the locusts commenced hatchins: out in countless millions, and every day 

 ■since that time laro^e swarms have come to tiie surface. As soon as they were able to 

 hop and eat, which seems to be in about thirty minutes after incubation, they com- 

 menced their depredations. Since tliat time, though millions have been destroyed, 

 their capacity for destruction has increased. In spots they cover the ground com- 

 pletely ; sometimes bushels of them can be scooped up from the area of a few square 

 feet. These will invade a wheat, oats or flax field, and in a few hours scarcely a ves- 

 tige of vegetation is to be seen. They climb currant and gooseberrv bushes, and in a 

 short time the bushes will be entirely stripped of fruit and foliage. They have invaded 

 almost every garden, meadow, wheat, oats, flax and rye field in the county, and have 

 devoured them. * * * * * * * * *. 



It would be Impossible to give in our brief article an adequate idea of their de- 

 vastation in Cass county. Mr. Lee Emerick says they took fifteen acres of fine oats 

 for him in three hours. Judge Frank Clark had a line field of wheat which was en- 

 tirely destroyed last Sunday afternoon. Numberless instances could be given of fields 

 perfectly beautiful in verdure one morning, presenting an aspect as bare of vegetation 

 'by the next daj^ as they were at planting time. — [Cass County Courier, May 21, 1875. 



Those persons at a distance and out of range of the plague can have but a faint 

 idea of our situation, nor can they comprehend the fearful ravae;es made by these pests. 

 These have already eaten up the wheat and oats, and are taking the corn that is planted 

 as fast as it appears above the ground. Our gardens and meadows have been totally 

 despoiled, and our once beautiful, flower-decked prairies now look as desolate and bar- 

 ren as the desert. Our stock will either have to be sent off or starve, as there is noth- 

 jng for them to eat. The influence of the plague (there is no use denying the fact) is 

 being severely felt in our towns and cities by all classes. Business is becoming stag- 

 nated, work of all kinds is on the decline, and gloom and despondency fill almost every, 

 heart at the prospect of famine and possible starvation, which must surely come unless 

 assistance comes from some source. — \_Pleasant Hill Review, May 25, 1875. 



Mr. W. H. Barrett, a prominent merchant of Harrisonville, wrote 

 me, May 27: 



In reply to your enquiries about destruction of crops, I will say, of my own per- 

 sonal knowledge, as follows : I had loaned flax seed enough to sow an acreage of ten 

 thousand acres, and now there is not one acre left standinir in the county. I have some 

 five thousand acres of castor beans out and I find that they are not damaged to any 

 great extent, and this is the only exception of any crop I know of in the county. 

 Flax, oats, wheat, early corn, and in fact every green vegetable is destroyed, and they 

 are now working on the fruit of all kinds, and I find all of this year's growth of young 

 trees is being eaten off and great apprehension is felt for fear they will kill the trees. 

 In fact, all the small fruits are eaten bare, and in my opinion, are now killed. 



Even the forest trees did not escape the destroyer. The castor 

 bean, which the locusts at first refused, was finally to some extent 

 eaten. Large fields were swept away with marvelous rapidity. One 

 farmer testifies that he had one hundred and sixty acres of wheat, rye, 

 oats and corn in fine condition, and that thirty-six hours after his fields 

 were attacked, not a hat full of grain was left. 



The almost entire loss of crops of the year previous by drouth and 

 chinch bug, left the people in a sad condition to encounter the misfor- 

 tunes of 1875. More or less distress settled upon all classes of peo- 

 E R— 24. 



