GRASSHOPPER. 



GRAVEL. 



soils and upland situations, peculiarly adapted 

 for hillv sheep pastures. It is a low dwarf 

 grass, relished by all kinds of cattle. 



The Alpine meadow-grass (Poa alpina, see 

 PL 6, /), turfy hair-grass (dira crespitosa, PI. 

 6, w)> common quaking-grass (Briza media, PI. 

 6, n], are all dwarf mountain grasses, well 

 Adapted for hilly parks or lawns. 



GRASSHOPPER (GryUida). The destruc- 

 tive insects, popularly known in the United 

 States by the name of grasshoppers, but which, 

 in our version of the Bible, and in other works 

 in the English language, are called locusts, 

 have, from a period of very high antiquity, 

 attracted the attention of mankind by their ex- 

 tensive and lamentable ravages. It should be 

 remarked, observes Dr. Harris, that in America 

 the name of locust is very improperly given to 

 the rinifla of the ancients, or the harvest-fly of 

 English writers. The name of locust will here 

 be restricted to certain kinds of grasshoppers; 

 while the popularly named locust, which, ac- 

 cording to common belief, appears only once 

 in 17 years, must drop this name and take the 

 more correct one of cicada or harvest-fly. The 

 very frequent misapplication of names, by 

 persons unacquainted with natural history, is 

 one of the greatest obstacles to the progress 

 of science, and shows how necessary it is that 

 thin ITS should be called by their right names, 

 if the observations communicated respei-tmi; 

 them are to be of any service. Every intelli- 

 gent farmer is capable of becoming a good 

 observer, and of making valuable discoveries 

 in natural history ; but if he be ignorant of the 

 proper names of the objects examined, or if 

 he give to them names, which previously have 

 been applied by other persons to entirely dif- 

 ferent objects, he will fail to make the result 

 of his observations intelligible and useful to 

 the community. 



The insects which Dr. Harris calls locusts, to- 

 gether with other grasshoppers, earwigs, crick- 

 ets, spectres or walking-sticks, and walking- 

 leaves, soothsayers, cockroaches, &c., belong 

 to an order called Orthoptera, literally straight- 

 wings; for their wings, when not in use, are 

 folded lengthwise in narrow plaits like a fan, 

 and are laid straight along the top or sides of 

 the back. They are also covered by a pair of 

 thicker wing-like members, which, in the 

 locusts and grasshoppers, are long and nar- 

 row, and lie lengthwise on the sides of the 

 body, sloping outwards on each side like the 

 roof of a house ; in the cockroaches, these 

 upper wings or wing-covers are broader, 

 almost oval, and lie horizontally on the top of 

 the back, overlapping on their inner edges; 

 and in the crickets, the wing-covers, when 

 closed, are placed like those of cockroaches, 

 but have a narrow outer border, which is 

 folded perpendicularly downwards so as to 

 cover the sides of the body also. 



"The young grasshopper comes from the 

 egg a wingless insect, and consequently unable 

 to move from place to place, in any other way 

 than by the use of its legs ; as it grows larger 

 it is soon obliged to cast off its skin, and, after 

 one or two moultings, its body not only in- 

 creases in size, but becomes proportionally 



longer than before, while little stump-like wings 

 begin to make their appearance on the top of 

 the back. After this, the grasshopper con- 

 tinues to eat voraciously, grows larger and 

 larger, and hops about without any aid from 

 its short and motionless wings, repeatedly casts 

 off its outgrown skin, appearing each time 

 with still longer wings, and more perfectly 

 formed limbs, till at length it ceases to grow, 

 and, shedding its skin for the last time, it 

 comes forth a perfectly formed and matured 

 grasshopper, with the power of spreading its 

 ample wings, and of using them in flight." 

 (Harris.) See LOCUSTS. 



GRATTEN. A term provincially applied 

 to arable lands in a commonable state. But it 

 is used in Cornwall to imply the mowing of 

 grass the first year after the land has been 

 manured with sea-sand ; and this operation 

 they call " mowing in gratten." 



GRAUWACKE. A German miner's term, 

 implying gray rock; adopted in geology to 

 designate some of the lowest secondary strata, 

 which form the chief part of the transition rocks 

 of several geologists. See GEOLOGY. 



GRAVEL. A term applied to a well-known 

 material, consisting of small stones, which 

 vary in size from that of a pea to that of a 

 walnut, or something larger. It is often inter- 

 mixed with other substances, such as sand, 

 clay, loam, flints, iron ores, &c., from each of 

 which it derives a distinctive appellation. See 

 GBOLOGT. 



The best kinds of manure for this sort of 

 land are marl, or any stiff clay, cow-dung, 

 chalk, mud, and composts formed of rotten 

 straw from the dung-hill. 



"Gravels," says Professor Low, in his re- 

 marks on soils (El. ofjjgr. p. 8), "like sands, 

 have all the gradations of quality from fertility 

 to barrenness. The loose soils of this nature, 

 in which the undecomposed material is great, 

 and the intervening soil silicious, are held to 

 be the worst of their kind. These are, in 

 some places, termed hungry gravels, not only 

 to denote their poverty, but their tendency to 

 devour, as it were, manure, without any cor- 

 responding nourishment to themselves. 



"The rich gravels will produce all the cul- 

 tivated kinds of grain. Their loose texture 

 renders them less suited than the clays to the 

 growth of wheat and beans ; but they are ad- 

 mirably adapted to the growth of barley and 

 oats. They are quick in their powers of pro- 

 ducing vegetation ; and from this quality, they 

 are, in some places, termed sharp or quick 

 soils. 



" Gravels, like sands, are suited to the cul- 

 ture of the different kinds of plants raised for 

 the sake of their roots and tubers ; and they 

 are in so peculiar a degree suited to the growth 

 of turnips, that in some parts they receive the 

 distinguishing appellation of turnip soils." 



Gravel, if mixed with stiff loam, makes ex- 

 cellent and durable gravel walks for gardens, 

 &c. The kind generally preferred for this 

 purpose, is the red gravel. Previous to laying 

 it down, a solid substratum of lime, rubbish, 

 large flints, or broken earthen pots, or any other 

 hard substance, should be formed to the depth 



579 



