44 



they are still looked upon by the superstitious as sent by Him in' judg- 

 ment Says the prophet Joel, they are a nation " strong and without num- 

 ber, whose teeth aTe the teeth of a lion, and he hath the cheek teeth of a 

 great lion. He hath laid my vine waste, and barked my fig tree. * * A 

 fire devoureth before them, and behind them a flame burneth ; the land is as 

 the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness ; yea, 

 and nothing shall escape them." 



The grasshoppers oa the dry plains, between the Missouri and Pacific, are 

 not less destructive to such few crops as the industry and perseverance of 

 man forces from the dry grounds by means of the irrigating streams, that 

 flow from the mountain ranges, than are the locusts of Arabia. Against the 

 march of the innumerable hosts, the farmer opposes sometimes with success 

 his watering ditch, filled to the brim with the flowing streams, wliere count- 

 less myriads find a watery grave. Bnt woe betide the man whose crops have 

 no such guardian ditches. Over such a plantation the march of the devast- 

 ating army is as rapid, as destructive, as the armies described by the prophet. 

 We may well rejoice that the Mississippi and Missouri interpose their broad 

 channels to the advance of such armies, and act as guardian angels to our 

 corn and wheat fields. After the d&ys of ravaginga ^ind feastings are past, 

 mounted on strong wings, rising above these broad streams and the tree tops 

 they seek a new place where they may deposit their future brood of de- 

 vourers. 



Hear Marsh on the remedy: " The insects most injurious to rural industry 

 do not multiply in or near the woods. The locust which ravages the east 

 with its voracious armies is bred in vast open plains, which admit the whole 

 heat of the sun to hasten the hatching of the eggs, gather no moisture to 

 destroy them, and harbor no bird to feed upon the larvae. It is only since ■ 

 the felling of the forests of Asia Minor and Gyrene, that the locust has be- 

 ,come so fearfully destructive in those countries ; and the grasshopper which 

 now threatens to feecome almost as great a pest to the agriculture of some 

 North American soils, breed in seriously injurious numbers only where a wide 

 extent of surface is bare of woods." 



The chinch bug of the prairies, which is equally dreaded, by those who 

 know their ravages, can never traverse a belt of thick timber of seven or 

 eight rods in extent to,,devast an adjoining field. The oool damp soil of such 

 a belt presents an impassable barrier to their march ; the same as to the 

 grasshopper. Another devouring pest has appeared among us whose origin 

 seems to be traced to the dry western plains — the ten-striped potato bug — 

 whose ravages is to-day more dreaded than the rot which produced a famine 

 in Ireland. Other forms of insect life now swarming on those arid grounds, 

 may multiply upon us as we cut away our guardian trees, and drive off our 

 forest-loving birds, which feed upon them as they have made their appear- 

 ance among us. If the open plains breed these myriads, and forests arrest 

 their march, the law of protection is plain ; and he who raises the barrier, 



