﻿OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOaiST. 121 



Nature generally maintains her averages, and whenever dimin- 

 ished southern winds, drouth and locusts have prevailed, the opposite 

 conditions are very apt to follow, and give us plenteous harvests in the 

 place of short crops. 



INJURY TO FRUIT AND FRUIT TREES. 



It is doubtful if grain-growers and stock-raisers suffered as much 

 in the end as fruitgrowers, from the locust injuries. The injury was 

 less felt by these at the time, but was in many instances more lasting 

 and serious. Most trees would survive one or two defoliations, but in 

 many cases no leaves were permitted to grow for weeks, just at the 

 season when they are most needed. This was especially the case with 

 low shrubs, such as gooseberries and currants, in which the insects 

 were fond of roosting. Where not excessively numerous, heart-cher- 

 ries were preferred over others, and the insects would pass through a 

 strawberry bed and only clean out the weeds. A great many trees 

 were killed outright, and it was often found necessary to cut down the 

 grape-vines. Trees not killed were often badly barked and lost many 

 limbs, except where protected by ditches no orchards yielded fruit. 

 Many trees put forth a few secondary blossoms after the insects left, 

 and a few small apples were noticed on such in autumn. 



FOOD PLANTS. 



I have little to add to what was said under this head last year. 

 The Minnesota Commission found that the bearded varieties of wheat 

 escaped with less damage from the winged insects than smooth varie- 

 ties, owing as they think to the fact that the insects are deterred by 

 the long beards from attacking the heads, and confine their injuries 

 to the stalks and leaves. Mr. G. M. Dawson, in his " Notes" already 

 cited, suggests that to their known dislike of Leguminous plants we 

 may perhaps attribute the large number of such found on the western 

 plains. The Amarantus Blitum is the only plant which I found the 

 insects to refuse last Spring, when driven to extremities. 



CH.VNGES THAT FOLLOWED THE LOCUSTS. 



The invasions into a country of large numbers of animals, whether 

 men or insects, are often followed by changes in the vegetation of that 

 country. Certain strange plants are said to yet mark the path through 

 the Southern States which Sherman's soldiers took in their march to 

 the sea, and a number of plants new to the country are known to have 

 been introduced into France by the Germans during the late Franco- 

 Prussian war. So the locust incursions and devastations in Kansas 

 and Missouri were followed by some curious changes. These changes 



