l8 INFORMATION FOR EMIGRANTS. 



Speaking of the loss in the four States of Iowa, Missouri, Kansas^, 

 and Nebraska, the Commission says: * 



We have an aggregate loss in the four States mentioned for the year 

 1874 by the locusts of about $56,000,000. This estimate, we believe, 

 is fully sustained by the facts, and if erroneous, it is not because the 

 losses are exaggerated, but for the reason that they are underestimated. 



It is certainly much less than any made from local estimates 



Calculating in this way, we see that the actual loss to these four States 

 in a single year by this terrible scourge amounted to at least $100,- 

 000,000. 



The loss in grain in Minnesota was, in 1875, 4,141,230 bushels, and 

 in 1876, 7,031,151 bushels, t 



The loss in grains a;lone in Western Missouri for the year 1875 was 

 1^15,000,000. 



The loss in the Western States during years of worst visitation is 

 estimated by the Commission at at least ;$200,ooo,ooo. 



The loss of grain in the portion of Minnesota visited by grasshoppers. 

 in 1876 amounted, according to the reports of the Commissioners of 

 Statistics, to fifty per cent, of the entire wheat crop in those districts, 

 fifty-nine per cent, of the oats, fifty-one per cent, of the barley, and 

 sixty-one per cent, of the corn. The detailed reports from the various 

 counties in Kansas and the Northwestern States ravaged in 1877, pub- 

 lished in Appendix XX of the U. S. Entomological Report, furnish a 

 distressing picture of devastation, which persons wishing to emigrate to 

 those States should study carefully. 



The chronological history of the invasions is clearly given in chapter 

 II of the above mentioned report. Taking Kansas as an example, and 

 beginning in 1869, I take a few extracts: 



1869. For two years, apparently, the progeny of those which over- 

 run the State in 1866— '67 remained and did some damage. 



1872. This year "foreign " locusts did some harm in parts of Kansas. 

 At Beloit they appeared in the last week of August, and devoured 

 everything green. 



1873. While Nebraska and the country to the north was generally 

 overrun in 1873, there is no record of their appearance in Kansas. 



1874. This was the worst year in Kansas; the State, like its neigh- 

 bors north and south, suffered extremely. Mr. Riley, in his Seventh 

 Report, says the locusts swept over the State "in overwhelming hordes 

 from the plains of Colorado on the west, and the fields of Nebraska on 

 the north, in many instances clearing off all traces of vegetation in a 

 few hours." The corn crop was ruined by them. They appeared in 

 every county The suffering was great, thirty counties reporting 



*Page 121. 



tSame Report, page 122. 



