Locust Ravages East of the Mississippi. 193 



young of which were at the time devastating portions of 

 the West. The reports of this last in Jefferson, Franklin 

 and Moniteau counties in the Monthly Report of the De- 

 partment of Agriculture for November and December of 

 that year, undoubtedly refer to indigenous species, and are 

 a sample of the reliability of much of the entomological 

 information that comes through that channel. They were 

 troublesome not only in the Mississippi Valley, but in the 

 East, for I know that they did great damage to oats and 

 meadows in Southwestern Pennsylvania, and the following 

 items doubtless refer to Atlanis and femur-rubrum, and 

 will show how injurious they were in Massachusetts : 



Gkasshoppers in Boston. — We did not anticipate that Boston 

 proper would ever be inconvenienced by the pests which have 

 proved so destructive out West, but it is a fact that grasshoppers are 

 so numerous at the South End that they destroy the flowers in the 

 back yards to such an extent that hens are hired or bought to clear 

 the premises and save the ornamental plants which adorn the prem- 

 ises. These insects are not of the western pattern, but are native 

 productions. If their ravages continue, it is possible some of our 

 western friends will be called upon to rai c e subscriptions for the 

 relief of the floriculturists of Boston. — [Boston Journal. 



I venture to ask your advice in a grasshopper matter. Three 

 years ago a party of farmers and others in this commonwealth, tired 

 of granite hills, gravel banks and sand flats, and wishing some little 

 latent fertility in the original soil — combined to effect, and did effect, 

 the reclamatiou from the sea of about 1400 acres of what originally 

 was * salt marsh.' We are amply satisfied of the fertility of this 

 land, and so far, all is good. Last summer, however, this land and 

 adjoining territory was scourged with a plague of locusts or grass- 

 hoppers. Whether they came in such numbers owing to the diking 

 of these 1400 acres, or whether they would, last year, have come in 

 equal numbers whether the marsh was diked or not, we can not say. 

 Our question is this, and is at the same time the point upon which 

 we pray your advice : Can we do anything to diminish the number 

 of these pests for next year ? We could, for example, flood this 

 whole tract of land until early spring. Would this be advisable ? 

 Any points you would be kind enough to give us on the matter, 

 would be thankfully received. — [Letter from C. Herschel, Boston, 

 Mass., latter part of October. 



In short, during hot and dry years, which are favorable 

 to the multiplication of crickets and locusts, more or less 



13 



