Grasshoppers by Measure.
By Uriah Smith
As we write these lines from the Minnesota camp-ground, in Eagle Lake, Blue Earth Co., June 27, 1875, the advance guard of the grasshopper army in this State is within five miles of us; and we learn some facts concerning them which are worthy of record. With true northern enterprise this county took measures to rid itself of this scourge, by placing a bounty upon the slaughtered remains of these pests. It was first fixed at 5 cents a quart, or $1.60 a bushel. Under this offer they were brought in in such quantities that the bounty was reduced to $1 per bushel, and the next day was taken off entirely, the treasury becoming exhausted by the demands upon it. The result of this short war upon the insects shows more forcibly than any mere words could do it, the extent of the calamity now threatening this part of the country. The amount paid out in bounties reached the enormous sum of $28,000.00, and the amount of grasshoppers killed falls but little short of eighteen thousand bushels! The Mankato paper from which we gather these facts, concludes its account as follows:— “The amount of grasshoppers killed in this county for which a bounty has been paid, cannot fall much short of 18,000 bushels. The number of hoppers in a bushel at different stages of growth have been variously estimated at from 160,000 to 320,000. Striking an average of 200,000 per bushel, the number killed in our ten day’s war would amount to 3,600,000,000—an army large enough, when fully grown, to ravage whole counties. The living still outnumber the dead, and they are doing great damage to the wheat in Judson, Cambria, part of Butternut Valley, Lincoln, Garden City, and other small localities.” This, be it remembered, is in one county alone. Bro. Grant, the President of this Conference, states that on his journey to this place he passed through twenty-five or thirty miles of territory, where the grasshoppers were so numerous that it would be impossible to step without crushing a greater or less number of them, and in all the higher and drier portions they had collected three or four deep, devouring every green thing. And if a small portion of territory can present such facts and figures, what would be the result if all the other portions of this State were taken into the account, and all other States where this scourge is now felt? Is it not time for the people to begin to cry unto the Lord to stay in mercy the progress of this evil? U. S.