|70] REPORT UNITED STATES ENTOMOLOGICAL COMMISSION. 



of tlie damage done to the entire State as far north as Bryan and Waco. In the mean 

 time there is a comj)lete scare, and dealers will buy only by piecemeal. Trade in the 

 couutj^ seems to be at a stand-still, and if a commercial traveler attempts to sell a bill 

 of goods the dealer says ''grasshopper!" I am now going into Northern Texas, and 

 more about the grasshoppers anon. A. B. S. 



New Braunfels, Ajyril 25. — We have had a fine season so far, and oats, which have 

 been but little disturbed by the grasshoppers, promise seventy-five bushels to the 

 acre. We may say that two-thirds of the wheat crop are gone. Grasshoppers moving 

 northward, and no further damage anticipated from them. 



Dallas, April 25.— Never before have the crops in North Texas looked better, though 

 grasshoppers have begun to make sad havoc in wheat and oats, and fears are enter- 

 tained that they will eat up the young cotton and corn. It is predicted that the pest 

 will have disappeared in two weeks, and, if the prediction be correct, we will still have 

 good crops. 



Corpus Christi, Ajjril 25. — The grasshoppers have done no injury in the large dis- 

 trict of country between the Nueces River in this State and the Rio Grande on the 

 Mexican border. They have never done any damage in this section at any time. 

 Crops are looking well. 



Plano, Ajjril 25. — Grasshoppers are still here by the million, have already destroyed 

 many farms, and are now eating the wheat as it comes out. Many farmers are totally 

 ruined. If the pest does not leave soon the cotton crop will also go up. Business is 

 dull and the people are blue. 



Sherman, A2}ril 30. — Aside from' grasshopper ravages, crops — wheat, corn, aud cot- 

 ton—are looking well. Season rather wet, but not to an extent to interfere with the 

 cultivation of corn. We have the promise of a good harvest. This will commence in 

 about three weeks. In some sections 'hoppers have done considerable damage, but crops 

 are so far advanced that the pests cannot seriously damage them.— [Prairie Farmer. 



A strong wind from due south, and the air, as far up as the eye can reach, is filled 

 with locusts moving north. Such of our local crop as can fly are rising. We have 

 many late ones, too young to start yet. — [Letter from W. C. Walsh, Austin, May 1, 1877. 



Leaving the State. — The Herald has strenuously maintained all the time that no 

 serious damage would be done to the geneiral crops by the grasshoppers, and that as 

 soon as their wings were developed they would leave the country. Both these asser- 

 tions have proven correct. Reports from all over the State show that the wheat crop 

 never looked better. Damage has been done in certain localities, but the damage was 

 only in spots, and cannot be counted in the general average. All danger is over now, 

 for the grasshoppers for the last two days have been winging their way northward, 

 millions ui)on millions of them. They can only be seen by looking very closely at the 

 sky, and as near the sun as possible. Many of our citizens were busy yesterday gazing 

 atthem through glass and spectacles. Parties in other States need not fear to come 

 to Texas on account of grasshoppers. — \_Dallas Herald, May 3, 1877. 



Dear Sirs : The present season has been one of many doubts and fears, owing to the 

 appearance of the grasshoppers ; and while they have done some harm, it has been 

 mostly confined to gardens, with a slight damage in some cases to wheat aud oats. 

 This latter, however, was only in places, and not by any means general. Taking into 

 consideration the increased acreage, I am prepared to say that our yield of cereals in 

 this section will be fully up to last season, if not more; provided nothing happens in 

 the mean time to cut our crops short, and as our farmers will commence harvesting in 

 fifteen days, all seems favorable. 



In the sections of this and surrounding counties where damage has been done by 

 the grasshoppers, the farmers lost no time in preparing to resow, and the consequence 

 is that, with very few exceptions, the crops thus destroyed have been replaced by cot- 

 ton, corn, millet, and Hungarian seed, all of which promise large yields. 



The present growing crop of cotton is larger than that planted last year and bids fair 

 to make a larger yield ; but, as a general thing, more attention is being paid to grain, 

 caused by the anticipated decline in cotton and promised increase in value of bread- 

 stufits, the result of the Eastern troubles. 



Any inquiry regarding the crops I will be at all times ready to answer cheerfully, 

 as well as any other information desired. —[Letter from T. C. Haggart, Dallas, May 15. 



The pestiferous 'hoppers are departing from this section — going to Iowa, I suppose, 

 to grow up with the country. The damage done during their sojourn with us is but 

 slight. Wheat harvest has begun, and it is thought the yield of this county will sur- 

 pass that of any previous year. — [JEllis County, May 26, 1877, Colman^s Eural World. 



The grasshoppers have nearly all disappeared from Texas, and the indications are 

 that the State will have an abundant wheat crop this year.— [May 26, 1877, Prairie 

 Farmer. 



