EARLY HISTOEY OF WHEAT-GROWING H 



put on a thriving and prosperous appearance : when lo ! in 

 the midst of all these pleasing anticipations, just as the 

 com was in the ear, and the barley almost ripe, a cloud of 

 grasshoppers ^^ from the west darkened the air, and fell 

 like a heavy shower of snow upon the devoted colony. 

 This stern visitation happened in the last week of July, 

 and late one afternoon. Next morning when the people 

 arose it was not to gladness but to sorrow ; all their hopes 

 were in a moment blighted ! Crops, gardens, and every 

 green herb in the settlement had perished, with the excep- 

 tion of a few ears of barley, half ripe, gleaned in the 

 women's aprons. This sudden and unexpected disaster 

 was more than they could bear. The unfortunate emi- 

 grants, looking up towards heaven, wept." ^^ Once more 

 the settlers found it necessary to leave their homes and go 

 to Pembina where starvation might be staved off with 

 buffalo meat. 



Early in the spring of 1819, the Scotch settlers returned 

 from Pembina to Kildonan and sowed the grain of such 



24 The insect which was responsible for the plague of 1818, and for 

 subsequent plagues in 1864, 1857, etc., was known to the Red River 

 settlers as a grasshopper; but, as I am informed by my colleague 

 Dr. Charles H. O'Donoghue of the Department of Zoology, it would 

 be more correctly designated a locust. A certain amount of con- 

 fusion exists as to the correct application of the terms grass- 

 hopper and locust. It is preferable to apply the term locust to 

 those forms which migrate in long-distance flights and which usually 

 are of large size. On the other hand, the Field Crrasshoppers, so 

 common on our sidewalks, are usually smaller animals and progress 

 only by characteristic, short flights. It is obvious, therefore, that 

 the insect seen by the settlers, although of medium size, was a 

 migratory locust. The species is known scientifically, according to 

 information sent me by Dr. Gordon Hewitt, the Dominion Entomolog- 

 ist, as the Rocky ^lountain Locust, Melanoplus sprettis. During 

 recent decades, this pest has not again appeared. Dr. Hewitt thinks 

 that this may be due to the northward extension of agriculture and 

 the possible decrease in the insect's breeding places. 



25 A. Ross, loc. cit., p. 48. 



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