APPENDIX VIII. AUGHEY'S RECORD FOR 1877. [123] 



Lincoln, Tuesday, June 5, 1877.— Mean temperature, C5°. Letter to-day from L. Beck- 

 man, at Beatrice, says that though countless numbers have hatched out there, few are 

 left. No one knows where they have gone to, hut all suspect that they have died or 

 have been eaten by birds, or that both causes have operated to destroy them. Only a 

 few fields have been injured by the locusts, and the farmers all hopeful. 



Lincoln, Wednesday, June 6, 1877. — Mean temperature to-day, 67° F. Rained last night 

 and a little to-day. Letter from Johnson County, from Sol. Soder, reports that the 

 locusts have in a few places done some damage, but that in spots they have mysteri- 

 ously disappeared. On a few places the farmers were fighting what were left with 

 kerosene-pans. This day noon Professor Thomas came, and I had my first interview 

 with him at 3 p. m., at the Commercial Hotel. * * * Discussed generally with him 

 the locust question. 



Lincoln, Thursday, June 7, 1877. — Mean temperature to-day, 63^ F. This forenoon 

 went with Professor Thomas and Dr. Weelckines to South Lincoln and to Adamses 

 market-gardens, one mile southeast of Lincoln. Found a considerable number of lo- 

 custs here, and doing much damage to a portion of his grounds. The part plowed 

 sufSciently in early spring escaped, except from the immigration onto it of locusta 

 hatched out elsewhere. 



Missed the train to go to Tecumseh with Professor Thomas. Received letter from 

 James Dollman, Pawnee City, Pawnee County. He reports that little damage is done 

 to the crops by the locusts, though they hatched out in large numbers, and then in 

 spots over large areas mysteriously disappeared, but how he cannot tell. 



Lincoln, Friday, June9, 1877. — Mean temperature, 66° F. Went to Falls City to-day. 

 Saw Professor Thomas at Tecumseh for only a few moments while train stopped. 

 Rained much of the day. Found locusts doing 'considerable damage around Hum- 

 boldt, Table Rock, and Falls City. At Falls City, 700 kerosene-machines have been 

 made and sold to the farmers in the country. The damage being done is in separated 

 areas, and those farmers that are fighting them are doing it successfully. Some, 

 however, do nothing, and the town-people are more zealous and more successful in in- 

 citing to such efforts than the farmers themselves. I found by experience at Falls 

 City that some farmers were so faithless that it was with difficulty that they could be 

 induced to make the effort. Rain and mud interfered with making a thorough exami- 

 nation. 



Lincoln, Saturday, June 9, 1877. — Left Falls City at 7.30 this morning. Professor 

 Thomas joined me at Tecumseh. He had been much exercised at Tecumseh about the 

 locusts, as they were doing some damage here in spots, and the farmers were not doing 

 much to head them off. Professor T. aroused them to the importance of the effort to 

 destroy the locusts, and was aided by Mr. O. U. Holmes. They succeeded in inspiring 

 confidence in the feasibility of destroying the locusts and led many to make the effort. 

 Those that manfully made the attempt succeeded. 



Sutton, June 11, 1877. — Left Lincoln to-day at 12.45. Saw few traces of locusts on 

 our way here. Found a considerable number of dead and dying locusts. At the present 

 rate of dying or disappearing, the remainder of this field will probably escape destruc- 

 tion. Locusts here very thicks, epecially through the middle of the orchard. He had 

 a man putting a coating of whiting on the trees to prevent the locusts crawling up the 

 trees. Locusts principally came in from an adjoining field on the east, eating up the 

 timothy in the orchard. A ditqh commenced on the north side of the orchard, and this 

 method— ditching — is most confided in here for destroying the locusts. All seemed to 

 rely on this method. 



Rained hard in the afternoon, between three and four. After seeing this field, we 

 went to see the farm of Hon. J. Sterling Morton, 1^ miles from town, on the north. 

 Here the lociists were abundant in spots. They had dug a ditch in front of the house, 

 in which they had captured an immense number of locusts. They had also tried the 

 kerosene and tar pans with only partial success, and esteemed it rather lightly. Pro- 

 fessor Thomas tried to convince Mr. Morton's son that if he gave this plan a fair trial 

 it would be a suceess. The locusts were specially abundant in and damaging to the 

 clover. On the whole, they were encouraged to believe that they had found out how 

 to meet the locusts and to destroy them. 



Fremont, June 14, 1877.— Came here at 2 p. m. Saw Mr. Rogers soon after at the 



bank. He took me to the northern part of the town, where, in the grounds of Mr. , 



a market-gardener, the locusts were doing animmense amount of damage. They had 

 eaten all the strawberries, tomatoes, potatoes, &c., in one half of his grounds. In the 

 other half he was trying to destroy them with kerosene-pans, by dragging, and also by 

 ditching. He confessed that if he had commenced in time, he could have saved all his 

 grounds, though the greatest part of the locusts came in from his careless neighbors' 

 grounds. Thinks that hereafter the remedy is in his hands. He also thinks that 

 they are slowly disappearing. The locusts here of all ages ; some able to fly, and have 

 mature wings, while others seem to be but a few days old. Still farther north a half 

 a mile, I visited a field that was about one-quarter eaten on one side by the locusts, and 



