CHRONOLOGY, 1878: DAKOTA. 
3 
niense swarms, disappearing at 3 p. m., height of swarms 50 to 1,000 
feet, flying from the northwest ; September 10, 11 a. m., quite thick, 
swarms about 1,000 feet high, and flying west with the wind. Chinch 
Bugs at Creswell, Kans., September 26, eating young wheat. 
Mr. Thomas Mxon, Argyle, Sumner County, Kans., writes, on Oc- 
tober 4, 1878 : 
I have noticed the Rocky Mountain locust passing over here. For some time there 
•were some Hying north on the 18th and 19th days of Septemher. They passed over 
once the 1st of this month very thick, going southeast , with wind quite strong south- 
east. Sky clear and fine. Some few have alighted and are depositing their eggs. 
THE LOCUST IX DAKOTA IX 1878. 
They have come and gone. They were evidently what was left from former years. 
They were hungry but not healthy. The swarm was about three miles wide and 
cleaned up nearly all the gardens, injured corn very much, and trimmed the potato 
vines. The wheat and oat crop was all harvested before they came. Corn had been 
more injured by the grub than it was by the grasshoppers The cabbage crop had 
also been injured by insects. Drouth had affected the gardens and the potato crop, 
but the wheat and oat crop was all that could be desired. The 'hoppers were coup- 
ling when here, and yet the ground in some localities was honeycombed with holes 
where they had tried to deposit their eggs ; but one gentleman who was through the 
grasshopper troubles in Southern Minnesota, and his two boys, searched three hours, 
and, though they found thousands of holes, they discovered only four eggs. They 
found a deposit filling the egg-sacks, however, which, after lying a day or two, 
resembled red granulated sugar. The 'hoppers were also covered with red parasites, 
were generally smaller than the 'hoppers of former years, and many of them died from 
grief or other causes while here. The settlements west of Bismarck, on Hart River, 
*nd east of Apple Creek were not affected by them. They covered just a narrow 
strip about Bismarck. — [Quoted in Farmers Union, August 22, 1878. 
A few grasshoppers were seen at Sioux Falls, Dakota, last week, but they appeared 
to be rising and had done but little damage to the unsecured crops. — [Saint Paul Pioneer 
Press, August 28, 1878. 
Bismarck, June 29, 1878. — The first genuine grasshoppers of the season appeared here 
yesterday. The wind in the forenoon was directly from the south, and about noon 
changed and came from the west. After the wind changed the 'hoppers were first 
noticed. They came from the south and lit when the wind changed, but not in any 
great numbers. They are not afflicted with the parasite of last summer. In 1873, the 
first grasshoppers appeared here during the first week in June, and came f rom the south- 
west and disappeared northeast, after leaving their eggs. In 1874, the young grass- 
hoppers hatched out in great numbers in May and destroyed all the gardens around 
Bismarck. Afterward, during the same year, a great many swarms of grasshoppers 
passed over from northwest going southeast, and only lit when encountering an adverse 
wind. In 1875, grasshoppers also hatched here, and innumerable swarms passed over, 
the largest of which came from the south and passed directly north. They resembled 
clouds of smoke from prairie fires while passing over. This was in July, before the 
prairie grass was dry enough to burn. In 1876 and 1877 we were visited by grasshop- 
pers, and great numbers flew over, mostly to the southeast, while a few swarms passed 
over to the north. 
The only material damage done here to crops by grasshoppers since the settlement 
of this locality in 1872 was done by the grasshoppers that hatched here in May, 1874. 
We seem to occupy the middle ground. There is no doubt that the locusts hatch out 
in immense numbers to the north of our locality, and periodically move to the south 
and southeastward, and reach as far as Iowa and Kansas. — [Pioneer Press. 
