614 REPORT UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 



that of the race that visited us in 1874 by fourfold. Now they are eating every green 

 thing — the leaves from the trees, the grass in the ravines, the forest-trees along the 

 Loup and Wood Rivers, corn, potatoes, tomatoes, evirrything. Our corn-fields to-day 

 present the appearance of so many acres of naked beau-poles. They have covered the 

 city of Kearney all over ; in the houses ; on the sidewalks ; they even inspect the fine 

 etore-rooins of our dry-goods and grocery men ; in fact I do not believe there is a 

 square inch of territory in Buffalo County that has not been searched by these maraud- 

 ers. The first indication of their approach was on Friday, July 28. Almost from the 

 first we saAv they were an entirely new generation. They had huge appetites, and at 

 once proceeded to find the sweetest and tenderest ears of corn in our fields. They 

 poked their hoses head downward, tail upward, into the very heart of our small cab- 

 bages. They almost dug up our onions by the roots. They ate up our melon-vines 

 and then partook greedily of the unripe fruit. The wind remained in the south from 

 July 28 till August 5, when about noon it suddenly changed to north-northeast. In lees 

 than twenty minutes, every hopper of this advanced guard wended their way south- 

 ward. How happy we were ! Vain delusion. At 4 p. m. the east, the north, the west, 

 presented the appearance of dense clouds of smoke, like that of burning prairies. Wo 

 saw it full 20 miles away. We gazed in wonder. The clouds approached, the air 

 swarmed with hoppers. We could hear the sound of their wings. They were so close 

 together, so dense, that they darkened the eun similar to an eclipse at midday. The 

 first cloud passed. At 5 i^. m. another, more dense, more terrible, more numerous 

 passed over head, leaving a few stragglers to search lor something to stay their stom- 

 achs. We thought by this time, surely the army had passed, but about 6 p. m. another 

 writhing, moving mass was seen approaching. On its arrival just over our heads, 

 down they came, like huge flakes of snow, so thick that the groimd was in many 

 places invisible. Here they remained till the next morning, scattered over the prairies. 

 About 9 a. m. they began gathering in endless swarms into our corn-fields, and by 1 p. 

 m. every leaf, ear, and in many places the stalks, were eaten, digested, and part of the 

 army on their way southwest to hunt for and despoil new fields. About this time the 

 wind changed to southeast, then veered to the south, and from that time until this 

 writing (Tuesday evening, August 8) the hoppers are with us supping, as a last resort, 

 on purslane, tumble-weeds, and even thistles. They will undoubtedly remain in this 

 section until the wind changes again into the north. So much for the appearance of 

 and destruction caused by these foes of the agriculturist. We see our entire season's 

 work, except one-third of the crop of wheat, melt away almost in a moment, and we 

 are helpless. 



The query in my mind, as well as in the minds of many of my suflTering neighbors, 

 is where these hoppers come from. In carefully watching their progress two years 

 ago, as well as this season, I am satisfied in my own mind that there is a slope of coun- 

 try to the north or northwest of Minnesota, in the British possessions, where these in- 

 sects are indigenous ; that in extremely dry seasons, like the present, the eggs depos- 

 ited last fall hatch in such endless quantities that the locusts are forced to migrate ; 

 -while in extremely wet springs, with heavy falls of snow or late frosts, in the terri- 

 tory where they originate, many of the infant progeny are destroyed. In July, 1874 

 vast numbers, it will be remembered, descended and spread over almost the entire ter- 

 ritory west of the Missouri River. They deposited egg.s in Kansas and Missouri, and 

 in the spring of 1875, caused wide destruction in the southeast pprt of this State, the 

 northeast part of Kansas and the northwest part of Missouri. This progeny seems to 

 have been annihilated — various influences during the summer of 1875 causing them 

 to be without the power of propagating their species. Now this season (1876), if I 

 am not mistaken, an entire new generation can be traced from the Red River coun- 

 try of the north, through Western Minnesota, Southwestern Dakota, thus far into 

 Western Nebraska. If I am.correct in these observations, then, whenever our springs 

 are dry, with but little snow or rain during the winter, followed by dry weather in June 

 and July, we may expect grasshoppers in just such endless quantities as we have 

 seen twice during the past four years. Whenever the winter, spring, and summer are 

 just the opposite of the foregoing, then we will be comparatively free from these pests 

 and our crops plenteous. I am satisfied in my own mind on the above points; and I 

 believe further that the territory wherein these insects are indigenous, is not so large 

 as to be beyond the control of a power, with a purse long enough to procure the neces- 

 sary labor, to work the destruction of young locusts and eggs before they can make 

 such descents upon us. Only the strong arm of Government, however, can wield this 

 power; and sooner or later it must intervene, or this entire western territory, with its 

 riches lying beneath the grassy sod, must be abandoned for all agriculCural purposes. 



Our corn, potatoes, and all our vegetable crops have already disappeared. Many of 

 onr wheat-fields were not cut at all ; others yield all the way from two to twenty bushels 

 per acre, according to location. There is as a general thing south of the Platte River 

 a, very large crop of small grain, which has been harvested, while the corn, potatoes, 

 and vegetables are fine as they were last season. North of the Platte, throughout a 

 portion of Hall County, all of Buftalo and Dawson Counties, the drought has been 



