42 TJie Rocky Mountain Locust. 



parents came the previous year. Some bevies may even pass to 

 the eastward of the limit line reached m 1874, and fall upon some 

 of the counties bordering that line ; but they will lay no eggs, and 

 will, in time, run their course and perish from debility, disease and 

 parasites. 



The verification of the above predictions the following 

 spring, was another proof of the soundness of the princi- 

 pal theories advanced m this work ; for while the injury 

 proved greater in many sections than was anticipated, yet 

 the occurrences, in the main, were accurately foreshadowed. 



GENERAL OUTLOOK IN THE SPEING OF 1875. 



The spring of 1875 brought the farmers of the locust 

 region to a crisis somewhat unusual and peculiar. Two 

 previous years of drouth and chinch bugs, followed by the 

 locust incursion of the previous fall, had armed the peo- 

 ple with unusual energy, born of hope and necessity, and 

 there was everywhere determination to put forth the very 

 best efforts. The opening of the spring favored the exe- 

 cution of this purpose. Timely rains and bright weather 

 crowned the seeding time with unusual hope, and a much 

 larger acreage of all spring crops was planted. The ex- 

 perience of previous locust years had been generally for- 

 gotten, and no effort to destroy the eggs had been made. 

 The same genial sun that made wheat, oats, corn and flax 

 grow apace, brought into activity myriads of the dreaded 

 destroyers. Scarcely had the farmer begun to rejoice over 

 a prospect of uncommon promise, when he saw his fields 

 invaded by an enemy that overcame his utmost resistance. 

 The severely stricken region, covering an area variously 

 estimated at from 200 to 270 miles from east to west, and 

 from 250 to 350 miles from north to south, and embracing 

 portions of Nebraska, Kansas and Missouri, presented a 

 variety of experience, some portions being comparatively 

 exempt from injury, while others wore an aspect of devas- 



