﻿NINTH ANNUAL REPORT 



belief that there was no ground for the theory, and that I had more faith in the other 

 causes which I have discussed as limiting the eastward spread of the species. Subse- 

 quently the insects extended some distance beyond the river in question. Indeed, they 

 reached a full degree further east than in previous known invasions, extending from 

 Claj' county to a little west ot St. Paul, and thence to Dodge and Mower counties. 



Eggs have been laid more or less thickly over the larger part of the southwest half 

 of the State. Mr. Whitman has carefully mapped out the area, and it includes most of 

 the country southwest of an eastwardly bulging line drawn from Clay to Mower coun- 

 ties, or about four times the territory in which eggs were laid in 1873, and about Ave 

 times that in which they were laid in 1874 or 1875. It is a singular coincidence, how- 

 ever, (and something similar will be noted in Kansas and Missouri further on), that, as 

 reported by Mr. Whitman, those counties in which the insects hatched in Spring, and 

 where vegetation was mostly consumed, are most nearly free from eggs. 



Governor Pillsbury has, from the first, taken a lively interest in the suffering of the 

 farmers from this plague, and by a timely proclamation, setting forth the best known 

 means to be used against them, and in other ways, has done much good. He devoted 

 considerable space to the subject in his last message, and urged legislative action, not 

 only on the part of his own State Legislature, but on the part of Congress. As a result 

 of his efforts, and the liberal policy pursued in having investigations officially contin- 

 ued by Prof. Whitman, the people of the State, by means of organization and ingenious 

 machines, are better prepared to meet the enemy next year than are those of any other 

 State. The legislature also has recently passed two bills which are important in this 

 conhection ; the one appropriating $75,000 for seed grain to the destitute, the cost of 

 the grain to be assessed against the property of the person receiving it, and paid, as 

 other taxes, in two equal assessments, whenever the recipient shall have raised two 

 crops ; the other provides for a bounty of $1.00 per bushel for all grasshoppers caught 

 previous to June 1 next, with smaller compensation thereafter as the insects approach 

 maturity. — (See further on under "Legislation.") 



Colorado. — What with persistent and generally successful fighting by farmers, 

 with burning machines, ditches and coal oil, together with their natural enemies and the 

 heavy rains, the insects that hatched out in Colorado had greatly diminished in June, 

 and those that took wing vanished without leaving any very strong impression as to 

 the direction taken. 



During the early part of August the locusts were passing over large parts of Colo- 

 rado from the north, in a southwesterly direction, at the rate of about fifteen miles a 

 day. They came in successive and almost continuous clouds, and the general opinion 

 was that they came from Wyoming. The small grain was mostly saved throughout 

 the State, but all late and green crops suffered. The Colorado Farmer (Denver) of the 

 10th of August, stated that, while the damage had been great, it was quite probably 

 over-estimated ; and the same journal a week later, reported that the insects had very 

 generally left that part of the State. According to Signal Service reports, they had also 

 very generally left by the 13th, but others were passing over from the 22d to the 28th, 

 and thenceforward in diminising numbers. Toward the end of the month they were 

 very thick along the Denver and Kio Grande Eailroad, frequently impeding the 

 trains. 



The Georgetown M'mer gives the following account of their drowning in large 

 numbers : 



* * * As the ravenous millions were driven up against the high 



ranges about JMount Evans, they were cliillcd and commenced falling into the little 

 stream which flows past Sisty's place, until for days, the rivulet was transformed from 



