﻿64 NINTH ANNUAL REPORT 



was the case, also, in Sac countj', where they were represented as making raids on 

 garden produce, and leaving corn almost an immunity from attack. O'Brien county 

 reports the destruction of all uncut small grain, garden vegetables and most of the 

 corn. In Cherokee potatoes were damaged about 75 per cent., corn 25 to 33 per cent., 

 and Fall wheat considerably ; and in Carroll corn was injured 25 per ceut, and cab- 

 bages and turnips devoured "in toto". These are the worst cases. Hamilton county 

 suffered a small loss in late potatoes, Fall rye and cabbage ; in Audubon the damage 

 did not exceed one per cent., and the counties of Boone, Story and Guthrie almost 

 entirely escaped damage. 



The most eastern point reached was in the middle of the State, and the line retreats 

 from Story county both north and south. 



In all the counties invaded, eggs were deposited, and in most instances quite 

 thickly. 



Prof. Bessey republished the remedies and recommendations in my last Eeport, 

 and issued them in a little bulletin, that was easily and cheaply sent to farmers through- 

 out the State. 



Nebraska — Those locusts that came into Iowa earlier in August passed southwest 

 into Nebraska, and, in scattering numbers, reached Council Bluffs and Omaha August 

 17. A dispatch from Omaha the next day summed up with the statement that: "a 

 general review of the situation was very favorable, and there was no apprehension of 

 a failure to harvest the fine and large crop." 



From many other reports it would appear that in the northeast counties, from 

 locusts and other causes, not more than half a crop of corn was saved, but that most of 

 the small grain was duly harvested; and Mr. L. W. Chandler, of St. Helena, wrote, 

 toward the end of the month, that notwithstanding the injury to corn, the country 

 thereabouts was in better shape than it had been for five years. 



Almost simultaneously with the incursions in the eastern part of the State, there 

 were others from the north overrunning the western part, and from the 5th of August 

 throughout the month, their movements were reported by the Signal Service. The 

 direction was principally south, or southwest early in the month, and mostly southeast 

 toward the end of the month ; and here, as in Minnesota, it was everywhere remarked 

 that when the wind was from the south, the insects remained and awaited a change 

 before passing over in the main direction. The following account from a correspond- 

 ence of the New York Tribufie, gives some interesting details : 



Early in August they reached the western portions of this State, but were partial 

 in their depredations, devouring everything in some localities, doing little damage in 

 others. On the twelfth of the month they made a forward movement, and appeared 

 in the valleys of the Elkhorn, Platte and Republican. Our local papers, acting on the 

 *'ostrich" policy, suppressed the facts or misrepresented them, and all were wishing 

 for a favorable wind to carry the pests beyond our borders. But a soft, southerly wind, 

 varied hv an occasional thunderstorm from the northwest, prevailed till the 23d,, when, 

 by a stiff northwester, the grasshoppers rose and came from their exhausted feeding- 

 grounds upon the east and south portions of the State. They came literally in clouds, 

 looking like the frost-clouds that drift along the horizon on a winter morning. They 

 are devouring "every green thing," including shade trees and even weeds, such as the 

 " Jamestown weed " and wild hemp. The great body of them seemed to pass south, 

 moving in dense masses during the 23d, 24th and 25th, and will probably be heard 

 from in Kansas and Missouri. 



Eggs have been laid all over tlie eastern part of the State, but less extensively in 

 the western counties. P]x-Governor Furnas thinks that there are few in the counties 

 over one hundred miles west of the Missouri river, and, regarding the young insects 

 next Spring, he remarks, in a recent letter, " that while in the West we have room for 



