﻿124 NINTH ANNUAL EEPORT 



there is every assurance that the insects will vacate the country in 

 which they were born, soon enough to permit the planting and harvest- 

 ing of a great many of the more important vegetables, and with a 

 favorable Fall, a good crop of corn. This is more particularly true of 

 Missouri, and the country S. of the 44th parallel and E. of the 100th 

 meridian, which country I have designated as outside the species' 

 habitat. It is less true of the country W. and N. of those lines. 



As to the prospects later in the year, it is impossible to predicate 

 with the same degree of assurance. There were no locusts to do 

 harm in Manitoba in 1876, and it would seem that the 8askatchawan 

 country must have been more or less depleted by the swarms which 

 overspread our country. I am inclined to hope and believe that there 

 will not be another general invasion next autumn, and that the people 

 of Texas, Indian Territory, Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, 

 Iowa, South Dakota and even Minnesota, may expect immunity for a 

 few years to come ; after the hosts which are about to hatch are 

 ^ destroyed or wing themselves away. There may be partial injury 

 from their progeny in 1878, or even 1879, in parts of the country 

 named, especially toward the N. W.; but there will be no general 

 destruction. In Missouri we may confidently hope for immunity for 

 from seven to ten years. 



In conclusion, I would urge our farmers in the threatened country 

 to prepare to carry out the recommendations given in this Report; 

 to provide themselves with northern grown, early-ripening, seed-corn; 

 to sell no hogs nor poultry ; and to diversify their crops by growing 

 more tuberous and leguminous plants. 



In the language of the Omaha Conference report : ''Above all, do 

 not get discouraged ! Come what may, do not ask for outside aid ! We 

 do not believe there ever will be any need of it: it is, in the end, 

 demoralizing. ***** 



"There is no part of the country that is not subject to meteoro- 

 logical or entomological excesses, and in the long run the locust is not 

 more injurious than are some insects in other parts of the country. 

 When we think of the famine and utter destitution that at times over- 

 take some of the Eastern peoples, we may well thank the Almighty 

 that we live in a land of such resources and promise. The threatened 

 country has prospered in the past : it will prosper in the future ; and 

 in proportion as we meet this locust enemy with enterprise and con- 

 certed, intelligent action, in that proportion shall we vanquish it." 



