APPENDIX III. TEXAS DATA FOR 1877. [69] 



[Correspondence of Saint Louis Globe-Democrat.] 



KosSE, Ajml 17. — Crop prospects are poor, the grasshoppers doing great damage to 

 growing grain. On some larms every vestige of vegetation has disappeared. 



CORSICANA, J}))-}] 17. — The writer is jnst in from an eiglit days' drive embracing the 

 three connties of Ellis, Hill, and Navarro, and finds but small amount of damage done 

 by grasshoppers. Stands of corn and oats are damaged in small spots about the edge 

 of the timber. In the aggregate the damage is small, and soon expect them to leave. 



;McKixney, Ajn'il 17. — The prospect for wheat and corn is bad, the grasshoppers 

 doing much damage and no sign of their leaving. 



Crockett, A2)ril 17. — Cotton-planting delayed owing to excessive rains; about half 

 planted. What has been planted is well up and doing liuely. No grasshoppers yet. 

 Prospects good. 



Bryax, Ajn'il 18. — Grasshoppers are very numerous, destroying gardens whenever 

 a swarm strikes them. They have in some instances destroyed young crops. They are 

 hatching out in different litters. As they get large enough to travel they go north. 



LuLiNG, Ajn-il 18. — There are no grasshopx^ers in this part of the State, and crops 

 are doing well. 



Texas Locusts. — I came to Ellis County iu 1859, and have lived in Northern, Mid- 

 dle, Southern, and Southwestern Texas since then, eighteen years, and have never seen 

 any serious damage from grasshoppers. The pests have invaded portions of the State 

 several times, and in fact came as far 'south as Washington County last fall, and have 

 been hatching out for several weeks, but they disappear as fast as hatched, from birds 

 and other causes, and the farmers here do not apprehend any damage unless to a 

 few early-planted gardens. The climate seems unfavorable to them ; and besides 

 they would hatch and be grown and tiy northward before crops would be up. They 

 have been known to do some little damage occasionally in a small portion of Northwest 

 Texas only. The usual time of coming is October or November, and then they could do 

 no damage to this section. — [R. E. C, Washington County, Texas, iu New YorJc Tribune, 

 April 18, 1877. 



[From tlie Globe-Democrat.] 



Calvert, ApriJ 20. — We have had the grasshoppers with us for the last two mouths 

 in large numbers. They have done a great deal of damage to corn, oats, small grain, 

 and gardens, but so far have done little injury to cotton. The young ones seem to do 

 the most damage. Farmers believe they will leave in two weeks, and if this occurs 

 the prospect will be good. 



LuLiXG, April 20. — Grasshoppers have done little damage, and have commenced fly- 

 ing north. 



Sax Axtoxio, Ajjril 20.— Crops never looked better, and there are no fears of serious 

 damage by grasshoppers. 



We are having very heavy rains every few days, principally during the night, accom- 

 panied with incessant discharges of electricity and generally commencing or closing 

 with a great deal of small hail. I think a great many of the insects are destroyed by 

 these rains. They appear, however, to be very good barometers, and always seek places 

 of safety some hours before the rain comurences. and they invariably get on the shel- 

 tered side of the object to which they cling. — [Letter from W. L. Coleman, Calvert, 

 Texas, April 24. 



[Correspondence of the Globe-Democrat.] 



Hearne, Ajiril 25. — So many contradictory stories are told in reference to the grass- 

 hoppers in Texas, and the damage thej are doing, and what they are not doing, that I 

 thoujrht I would make my statement. I came into the State of Texas at Texaikanaon 

 the 22(1 of February, and since that time until now have been traveling by rail, stage, 

 and privaet conveyance, and have been at all of the large and medium-sized towns in 

 Eastern, Southern, Western, and Central Texas, and as "far north as Waco, McLennan 

 County. I have taken great pains to inquire of farmers in each place visited, and by 

 my own personal observation by going into the fields and examining for myself the 

 operations of the Texas grasshoppers, and to ascertain the amount of damage they are 

 doiu^ and its in'obable results. I find there are more or less grasshoppers in nearly every 

 porti(maudcountyof Texas visited, and thattheyare doing more or less damage iu places 

 where they are; but, unlike their operations in Dakota, Nebraska, and Kansas, where I 

 have seen them at their worst, sweeping as they go, in Texas the damage is not general 

 but local ; for instance, in a neighborhood they will eat up four or five acres of cotton 

 for one farmer, and not do any more damage iu that vicinity, or for five or six miles 

 around. What is peculiar about their operations here in Texas is that they then 

 leave, doing no more harm in that locality, but pounce down in some other place^, miles 

 away, destroying nothing intermediate, and invariably moving north. The most dam- 

 age I have witnessed is in the neighborhood of Eryan, in Brasos County. A well- 

 informed farmer here estimates that the amount of damage to the entire crop of the 

 county will be about one per cent, in Brazos County, and there will be a large per cent. 



