APPENDIX V. KANSAS DATA FOR 1877. [99] 



•were diminishing, thongh for my part I did not anticipate that any amount would 

 hatch out to do any injury. We are safe, as no eggs can be found ; should any visit 

 us on their turn to the north, from Texas, I will notify you. — [Jas. Hanway, Lane, 

 Franklin County, May 20, 1877. 



Hiawatha, Brown County, May 16. — Here ahout 50 per cent, of the eggs will not 

 hatch. A very few locusts have recently hatched, the first having appeared about a 

 week ago. The soil is cold and heavy, containing little or no sand. 



Seneca, Nemaha County, May 17. — Here, on a sandy knoll, the eggs have heen 

 hatching for four or five weeks. Near this knoll a few locusts were found, which had 

 passed the second molt, and from this size all gradations could he found, to those just 

 hatching. At other points, away from this one sandy spot, the hatching was very 

 much less advanced, the locusts having but rf cently commenced to appear. The eggs 

 here are principally sound. They were not deposited so thickly as at Manhattan. The 

 soil is hlack and heavy, and contains very little sand. 



Between Seneca and Hanover the wheat crops are looking well. Some few fields 

 are partially damaged, but the injury had soon ceased. 



At Hanover, Washington County, the soil is more sandy and dry, and the eggs are 

 all hatched. Sound " hoppers " not numerous. 



Washington, Washington County, May 19. — The streams are swollen by the con- 

 tinued heavy rains. Observed many locusts floating upon the surface of the water, 

 but no dead or drowned ones could be discovered. The supports of the railroad bridge 

 at this place were almost covered by the locusts which had drifted upon them and 

 crawled up the sides. They were drifting from a piece of lowland which had been 

 overflown, bur, in the center or opposite side of the stream none were seen. The eggs 

 are all hatched in this vicinity. Found empty egg-cases in abundance, but none yet to 

 hatch. The locusts are very numerous in some fields, but, from reports, have disap- 

 peared considerably. Their " disappearance " seems to be caused principally by the 

 locusts scattering, as they are very abundant in the young prairie-grass. The locusts 

 here have a lighter shade of coloring than I have before met with. Some have passed 

 the third molt. The soil is light and sandy. 



Clay Centre, Clay County, May 23.— Locusts generally rery Isirge, being in the 

 fourth larval stage. A very few, however, are now hatching, delayed, I think, by fall 

 plowing. But little injury has been done. 



Manhattan, Eiley County, May 24.— The prospects are very encouraging. About 

 90 or 95 per cent, of the eggs have been hatched. The 'hoppers are not so numerous as 

 they were two weeks ago. They are doing no particular damage on the College farm, 

 being most of the time collected in compact groups. They are very dark in color — 

 darker than any I have seen before. They are dying in considerable numbers in the 

 College rye-field. The rye is now in flower. I send specimens of dead locusts. These 

 dead ones are found mostly in the open spots where they congregate. They seem to 

 be feeding but little, and developing slowly. 



Independence, May 30. — Yesterday (May 29) I came in a buggy from CojSfey- 

 ville to Independence, making along trip, south and west, to the south line of the 

 State. Found fewer locusts than on any previous day. Most of them were quite 

 large, between the second and third molts. No eggs remain unhatched. Tv.^o gardens 

 were destroyed and one field of wheat slightly injured by them. In every case the 

 insects had disappeared immediately after doing the mischief. To-day I was west and 

 south in Elk and Chautauqua Counties. Found three swarms of locusts doing consid- 

 erable damage, two in wheat and the other in corn fields. Swarms quite local. Burn- 

 ing is the only thing done for their destruction in the country over which I have 

 traveled to-day. The young were driven into heaps of hay and then burned. Saw 

 one man turning a field, which had been plowed quite deep last fall to destroy the 

 eggs. They had all hatched, and perished in the ground in their attempt to escape. 

 In places the ground was quite red with their dead bodies when exposed on the sur- 

 face. I have been unable to try any experiments to-day on account of high winds and 

 scarcity of locusts. 



Greenleaf, Washington County, May 21. — Eggs were not thickly deposited at 

 this point, and are not hatched. Locusts not numerous, and are doing no particular 

 injury. — [Reports from special assistants. 



The deposit of eggs last fall covers an area approximated at 15,000 to 18,000 acres. 

 Fully one-half were destroyed by frost and water. By the 1st of May one-third of the 

 remainder was hatched, but were of short life. The early hatching commenced and 

 generally continued upon the low lands. These fellows disappeared as quickly as they 

 came. At one place I saw them so thick that they looked like wheat thickly sown. 

 Up to the middle of the month all that were hatched died. But a small portion of the 

 eggs left, say 10 per cent., continue to survive. By this I would mean of eggs not 

 hatched, or one-half of one per cent, of all deposited. 



Some of the farmers complain of their young corn as having been eaten. Meetings 

 have been held under the late laws of the State, and the general plan for killing them 



