APPENDIX I. NEBRASKA DATA, 1877. 
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time the last of June and the first of July, so of course we had no ripe corn. What we 
put in cribs, most of it, began to heat, and we hauled it out for manure. 
Last fall, it seems, we were favored ; the 'hoppers did not get here till September 
14. They had been near, both north and west, for several weeks, but a steady south 
wind kept them back, so there were not so many eggs laid as in 1874, and the season 
has been so wet that I have no doubt one-half of the eggs are rotten. Since May 9 it 
has rained every day except two. Very few 'hoppers are alive now, most of them 
being either picked up by the birds or drowned by the rains. I am glad to see you 
recommend plowing and harrowing in the Bulletin. We began to plow our roads in 
February, and our club has been planning and working to try to save our crops ever 
since, and it encourages us to know that our example has been followed nearly all 
over the county. 
In 1876 the first eggs were deposited here September 15. 
The eggs were most numerously hatching this year May 8, on the roadsides, aban- 
doned roads, &c. 
A neighbor saved his garden in 1875 by ditching around it 2 feet wide and 2 feet 
deep. Another saved his young apple-trees by whitewashing often. 
GEORGE HUTCHINGS. 
Friend, Saline County, June 1, 1877. 
The time that swarms of locusts arrive vary in accordance with the wind. 
In 1873 the locust, in passing from the northeast, encountered a southwest wind, which 
caused them to alight in great numbers (August 27), at about 4 p. m. On the follow- 
ing day. the wind having changed to the north, a considerable number of them passed 
on towards the southwest. 
In 1876 the first appearance of the locusts was August 25, at 3 p. m. ; they came 
from the northwest, the wind being favorable to their general course. They evinced 
no inclination to migrate farther, but deposited their eggs and remained until the cold 
finally put an end to their existence. 
Their descent has been either during clear warm days or upon the approach of sud- 
den storms. 
The general direction of swarms are alternately from north to south, going south, 
where they deposit their eggs, and when the young are sufficiently large to fly going 
north the next season. The departure varies according to the amount of dew on the 
ground. When there is no dew their departure will date as early as 7 to 8 a. m., and 
in other cases when the dew is sufficiently gone to allow them to become dry. They 
always fly with the wind, and in case the wind is adverse they patiently wait for a 
favorable breeze. 
They began to deposit eggs about September 1, and continued until the frosts put 
an end to it. 
Eggs hatched most numerous from May 1 to 15. The date of hatching previously 
was May 1. The hatchiug was late this year on account of long cold rains. 
Eggs are usually deposited in hard ground sloping toward the south. 1st. New 
breaking being the most preferred. 2d. Early fall plowed laud. 
The young were most numerously hatched on sod land (or what is termed in Ne- 
braska new breaking'). 
The insects are full fledged about June 25, and take their flight about July 1. 
This section was visited in 1876. Visited in 1874 and 1858. 
Birds and domestic fowls have been very useful in destroying the full grown' hoppers 
In the fall of 1876 the prairie hen was so impregnated with the locust taste as to be 
unpalatable. Quails, prairie chickens, snipe, blackbirds, &c, have been killed in 
this vicinity with their crops filled with the eggs. At present Nebraska is trying to pro- 
tect her birds by a law imposing heavy fines for the killing, robbing of nests, or hav- 
ing in possession any recently killed bird at any season of the year, and the probabil- 
ties are that it will be enforced. During the fall of 1876 my garden, 50 by 100 feet, 
was literally filled with eggs. Upon close examination I found 100 eggs to the square 
inch, and tbo running of a spade or hoe through the ground about one inch below the 
surface made a noise like distinct skirmishing, so numerous were the eggs. At that 
time I had seven of the common chickens, and I noticed that they were scratching up 
the ground along the margin of some old onion beds for two or three mornings ; after 
that I raked up one square rod with the garden rake, and by this time the fowls under- 
stood the business well enough to need no further assistance and in this manner went 
over the central plot. 
This spring I have kept close watch, but not to exceed a dozen young insects have 
hatched. Suffice it to say that seven domestic fowls in about three weeks have en- 
tirely cleared about one-fourth of an acre of as thickly nested ground as Nebraska 
ever had. 
No eggs are known to have hatched in the fall except by artificial means. 
The young insects prefer onions, strawberry, wheat, oats, and barley. The old 
ones prefer onions, corn, and beyond that are not particular as to diet. Peas and 
