Iowa Old Press
Sioux County Herald, June 12, 1879
THE GARDEN OF NORTHWESTERN IOWA
Colony of Hollanders Located In The Eastern Part of The County Sketch of
The Reformed Churches Established Here.
(The writer is preparing this history for a New York paper, has made
free use of the Centennial Address of Hon. O. C. Norse, and the
Historical Sketch, by S. C. Hyde and is especially indebted to Henry
Hospers, Esq., of Orange City, for valuable information concerning the
early history of the Holland Colony.)
THE COLONY OF HOLLANDERS.
This "Dutch Colony," as it is commonly called, is located in the
southeastern part of Sioux County, in the State of Iowa, occupying the
townships of Holland, Nassau, West Branch, Sherman and Floyd with Orange
City, the county seat, as its center, and East Orange as its railroad
station and principal business place. In 1877 not less than one hundred
and forty thousand bushels of wheat were shipped from this station. The
station agent informs the writer that there is not a station on the
Sioux City & St. Paul Railroad between Sioux City and Mankato not
excepting St. James, that does as much business as this station at East
Orange.
This Holland Colony was organized and started from Pella, Marion
County, Iowa, under the leadership of Henry Hospers, Esq. In 1847 a
large colony of Hollanders, direct from the Netherlands, settled in
Marion County, under the leadership of the late Rev. Scholten. In the
same year a large colony of Hollanders was also settled in Ottawa County
Michigan.
The colony in Pella grew and flourished to such an extent by the
almost constant addition of immigrants from the Netherlands that in a
few years all available and tillable land was occupied. It soon became
a question with many where to find a home for themselves and their
families. This question came year by year with increased force to the
hearts of many fathers and mothers as the small farm became insufficient
to support the growing family, and as they saw their sons and daughters
coming to years of maturity, why they, too, must seek a home for
themselves - but where? Rather than be separated, parents preferred to
go with their children and endure the trials and hardships of a new
settlement.
A colonization society was organized of which Henry Hopsers, Esq.,
became president. This society appointed a committee in the fall of
1869 to seek a location for a new colony in Northwestern Iowa. This
committee consisted of S. A. Sipma, H. Muilenberg, and J. Pelmulder.
This committee, soon after their appointment, started on their exploring
mission. They went northwest as far as Cherokee, about 250 miles from
Pella, Here they were so delighted with the beautiful undulating
prairie and its deep, rich soil, and the Little Sioux River, with its
bright waters, shimmering in the sun-light, and the green plateaus, of
limitless prairies as yet untouched by the hand of civilization, that
they resolved to locate here the new colony and to secure here that
birthright of every American citizen - a good home. They returned to
Pella, filled with enthusiasm and high hopes. On arriving home a public
meeting was called at which the exploring committee gave their report of
what they had found. They reported "glorious things" about the
northwest. This report was published in the Pella papers.
At this meeting another committee was appointed with power to act
and take up land in Cherokee County, three or four townships. This
second committee consisted of Henry Hospers, L. van der Meer, and D. van
den Bos. Mr. Hospers went by rail to Sioux City and the other members
of the committee went with their own conveyance to Cherokee, where Mr.
Hospers was to meet them. When Mr. Hospers arrived in Sioux City, at
the land office, he was informed that most of the land in and about
Cherokee had been taken up by speculators. That was the result of
publishing that "glorious report." At Sioux City Mr. Hospers was told
that in Sioux County there was equally as good if not better land than
about Cherokee. The other members of the committee having arrived, they
proceeded together by team into Sioux County. As they ascended by an
easy and gradual grade from the bottom lands of the Floyd River, and
after they had crossed the line of Plymouth County, they unpacked their
instruments and commenced surveying to find the different section lines
and stuck their stakes to indicate that the land was taken up. As they
proceeded more than two miles north of where now Orange City is located,
they were more than delighted with the beautiful rolling prairies.
They were glad that the enterprise in Cherokee county had failed, as
they were better pleased with the land of Sioux County. From the point
about two miles northwest of Orange City they ran their chain a mile
east and then south, to the corner where now stands the wind mill. Here
the Floyd River came in view. As they stood here, on this elevated
point, whence they could see the green, rolling prairies until lost in
the blue horizon, and the Floyd with its delicate fringe of willows, who
can tell what feelings must have been? From this point they surveyed
down to the Floyd Rivers by the section line where now lies the road
from Orange City to East Orange, setting stakes at every corner section.
As they were running their chain down this line they saw in the distance
two Indians galloping over the prairies. They came upon them. The
Indians were very much taken up with and wanted the gold watch chain of
Mr. Hospers. Mr. Hospers offered to trade with them for their ponies,
but this was refused, and they went on. They had a camp across the
Floyd, very near to where the Hendericks' now live. Mr. Hospers and his
party pitched their tent that night near the Floyd, not far from where
now stands the watering tank of the Sioux City & St. Paul railroad.
That night D. van den Bos was appointed to watch the Indians. About 11
o'clock he gave the alarm, " the Indians are coming." The whole camp
turned out but could find no Indians, some tall weeds, which, shaken
back and forth by the wind, were taken for the savages. By morning the
Indian camp was broken up and no more Indians have since been seen in
Sioux County. As soon as the necessary surveying was completed Mr.
Hospers returned to the land office at Sioux City. Here he wrote two
nights and a day, with his right and left hand, and presented 182 names
for whom he asked pre-emption claims. Never before nor since have so
many pre-emption claims been taken at this office at one time. After
this was done the committee returned to Pella, having been absent three
weeks. They made a report but not in a public meeting. The experience
in Cherokee had taught them a lesson.
In that same fall of 1869, 20 teams were sent from Pella to Sioux
County to plow about five acres on each claim in order to secure the
pre-emption right, as required by law. Only one woman was in this
company, Mrs. Vennema called "the mother of the colony." She was the
first white woman that lived in Sioux county east of Calliope. She is
still living, enjoying with her husband the fruits of those pioneer
days. When winter set in this company returned to Pella.
In the spring of 1870 some 60 families loaded their wagons, covered
with white canvass, and started for the land of their adoption, to make
their future home. Since that day this colony has grown and has
increased by an almost continual influx of emigration. Especially in
the spring of the year the white "prairie schooners" (moving wagons
covered with white canvass) are seen coming in from all directions.
They came from Iowa, Minnesota, Wisonsin, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana
and even from New York state, with not a few direct from the
Netherlands. Today we count in this Holland colony five organized
churches, one of them the Reformed church at Orange City, numbering
nearly 300 members, and the one at East Orange nearly 100 members.
Twenty-one school houses are located in this colony and the county seat
is situated in the center of Orange City. Three newspapers are
published here in two different languages, namely: THE SIOUX COUNTY
HERALD and DE VOLKVRIEND at Orange City and the INDEPENDENT at East
Orange. All this where ten years ago not a trace of a white man could
be found. Now we see here everywhere large and beautiful groves, with
rich and beautiful improved farms, the equal to which we can scarcely
find anywhere in the great northwest.
When we tell our visitors that ten years ago this was a vast prairie
wilderness, where not a single house could be found, nor a tree or
shrub, save along the Floyd river, they are amazed and it is beyond
their comprehension. The people that knew how to rescue and save a land
from the water of the great ocean in the Netherlands, knew equally well
how to make the "desert blossom as the rose." Economy, management,
industry and faithful toil always, anywhere, especially in a country of
deep, rich soil, reap rich reward, bring abundant fruits. It is owing
to this fact to which we point with pride that the county pays in cash
for what it receives. Her warrants of all kinds bring cash, 100 cents
for every dollar. The old Dutch proverb is not forgotten here,
"honesty is the best policy."
In presenting this history of Sioux County and the Holland colony
here we have not dealt in speculations and fancies but have given simple
facts. What may be the result of the vast accumulation of people, and
of the necessary increase of wealth and luxury attending it, we cannot
know. Our responsibilities are great, even as our blessings and
privileges. We can only do our duty in our day and generation and leave
the future to Him who doeth all things well, with the earnest prayer
that to us and our children, and our children's children, this goodly
land may be an inheritance forever, and that righteousness and peace may
ever characterize them.
If there be anything in the history of this county and of this
Holland colony and its wonderful development to excite a just pride, the
localities and villages whence these people came may justly claim a
share in it. Mother Pella need not be ashamed of her oldest daughter in
the Northwest. Such as we are the emigration from Pella and other
places has made us. Our free labor, free schools, free speech, free
press, free worship, free men and free women were their free gift and
contribution. Our county and colony here is simply the legitimate
offspring of a civilization that has attained its highest expression in
the building up of other towns, and places and counties. This colony is
not planted by the oppression of the parent government, but was the
outgrowth of the natural vitality and enterprise of the people, begotten
in obedience to the divine command to multiply and replenish for which
the Holland people are noted, and need not be ashamed.
This wonderful exhibition of growth and increase is but the evidence
of the existence and character of the people that have produced it, an
undeniable proof of the truth: "Righteousness exalts a nation ." What
this Holland colony is today she owes largely, if not altogether to the
influence of the Reformed churches located here, and to the fact that
these churches have been sustained by the Reformed Church East. The
Secretary of the Domestic Mission, Rev. Jacob West, D. D., visited this
colony soon after it was located here. In all that we are the Reformed
church has a full large, double share. Through her support and sympathy
two pastors have already been installed, the third is to be installed in
a few weeks, and the fourth one, perhaps, within a few months. The
saying of the worthy secretary Dr. West, "I regard Sioux County as the
largest and most promising mission field we have." was not an idle
prediction, but is fast being realized.
Sioux County Herald, June 19, 1879
By Rev. J. W. Warnshuis
THE GARDEN OF NORTHWESTERN IOWA
TRIALS AND DIFFICULTIES
However fertile the soil, or however industrious the toiler, the
trials, hardships and difficulties of the first settlers in any country
are many. Here the Holland proverb always proves true: "Alle beginsel
zijn moeijelijk."
The first cause of their trials was the poverty of the people. Many
had nothing to begin with save their health and courage and those family
jewels that are the "pledges of love" and the "consumers of bread."
Here they came in a vast rich and beautiful prairie country, but where
not a house or store could anywhere be seen or found, where not a piece
of bread could anywhere be obtained, or the flour to make it. The
nearest market place of any consequence was at Sioux City, a distance of
45 miles. Crossing a trackless prairie for 45 miles for a sack of flour
or a letter can hardly be called "excellent facilities." In such a new
country flour and feed is dear. A year and a half the first settlers
have to live from "hand to mouth." After the prairie is broken it has
to lie idle one year for the sod to rot. The next season it is ready to
be sown. For a poor people to work for a year and a half with out
receiving remuneration or reaping any fruits of their labor is very
trying and difficult, to say the least. With the severest economy and
the most patient toil there was no way during the first year and a half
of the settlement to earn a cent of money.
Many lived for weeks and months in their covered wagon boxes. There
was no time to build houses. The prairie must be broken in order that
they may be able to sow and plant something the following year. One man
informed the writer that he had plowed the first year for three weeks
without seeing a human being save the members of his own household who
lived in this wagon box. From morning to night he saw nothing but his
oxen and the vast expanse of prairie.
After the "breaking season" was over, which lasts until July, they
then made ready to build houses, which was by no means an easy task in
a country where there is no building material. All the lumber, nails,
etc, had to be hauled from Le Mars, a distance of 20 miles, or from
Sioux City. Many had only an ox team to do this work. Building under
such circumstances is hard and very difficult work. Of course the
houses built were most of them small and inconvenient. It can easily be
imagined (it could not be otherwise) the trials, difficulties and
privations of those early days of frontier life must have been many.
But this band of hardy pioneers had the energy, faith and spirit of
endurance to pave the way and create a heritage of wealth, prosperity
and happiness for those who came after them. It is always a great thing
to stand at the front of any good and noble undertaking. The idea of
standing at the front in an age of progress inspired the founders of the
colony with energy and hope. It is a grand thing to lay foundations and
feel that you grow as the country advances.
All the trials and hardships of those early days are now past. A few
acres of improved land, for the sake of accommodating the new owner, can
not be rented almost anywhere for one year. The railroad company and
real estate agents, as well as large land owners, have a number of acres
broken on every section, so that the new comers can commence to sow and
plant immediately and raise a good crop of wheat and corn the first
year. Lumber, too, can now be had very cheap right here at the station
in East Orange, where there are two large lumber yards. And as for
stores, these are found at nearly every street corner and filled with
choicest goods. Only one thing is very much needed, the want of which
is felt every day and is felt more and more as the colony grows and the
resources of our rich and fertile soil are being developed, and that is,
a steam flouring mill, to make into flour the thousands of bushels of
wheat that we raise here every year. Such a mill would pay for itself
in a few years.
In 1871, from the land that had been broken the previous year, a
rich and bountiful harvest was raised, which gave full proof of the
fertility of the soil, the yield being from 20-30 bushels of wheat to
the acre. The number of acres of course was small, averaging perhaps
about 15 acres to a farm.
The following year, 1872, a large amount of land having been broken
the previous year, was a very fruitful season, and an abundant harvest
was the reward the pioneer received for his toil, patience and trials.
During this year the Sioux City and St. Paul railroad was completed,
running from south to north through the colony. This road opened up
the great lumber markets of Minnesota and Wisconsin and the coal fields
of Iowa, and gave us a good home market for our wheat and every kind of
produce.
Following the wake of the settler was the army of money usurers, who
stood ready to take advantage of the necessities of the poor and
industrious people, which became another source of trials and
difficulties. With these usurers came the host of agents for different
agricultural implements. But the people were poor and had no money to
buy. But the agents must sell - they sell on time, at 10 percent
interest. Notes are given, secured by chattel mortgage. Nearly all get
in debt and ignorant of law, are the more easily led astray. These
notes and the debt thereby created has been the greatest source of all
the trials and difficulties of the early settlers. These agents were
smooth-tongued and know how to trap the innocent farmer. They would
speak eloquently of the rich prairie soil the greater number of acres
they would be able to cultivate with the very best machinery which they
sold as cheap.
They would talk of the bountiful and abundant harvest with great
prices for all farm produce. One harvest would more than pay twice over
for all the machinery absolutely needed here on these prairies. "You
can't work here as they do in the east where a man tries to make a
living on a sand or gravel hill. You must have more machinery here.
Everyone had them. You don't want to be less than your neighbor." And
the poor farmer buys and buys more that he absolutely needs. He makes a
leap where he should go step by step carefully, buying one thing this
year and pay for it, and then next year another thing and so on until he
has what he needs.
The following harvest did not turn out as the agent had figured it
would. The farmer was glad he had enough left for bread and seed and
feed for his team and cattle. Now comes the struggle to pay the notes.
These were indeed "the times that tries men's souls." But these men and
women were the sons and daughters of the fathers who fought for 80 years
in the Netherlands for religious and civil liberty. The spirit of the
fathers is in their children. They have the courage and faith to endure
every trial and difficulty and to become the founders of a great and
large settlement. And it deserves mention that Mr. Hospers, the leader
and founder of the Holland colony, has always been found to be a worthy
counselor and in numerous ways and many instances has saved many out of
the great trouble. He has stood faithfully by his people in their
darkest days, giving advise and courage and material aid. When every
avenue of relief seemed cut off he would find a way of help. Whoever
came to him for advise or help, always went away, not only encouraged,
but in some way or other delivered from his troubles. Now these early
struggles, with many trials and disadvantages, on account of their
poverty, more than realize the fruition of their hopes and the -reward
of their self-denial.
Many of them, who came here eight years ago with nothing but a yoke
of oxen, a wagon and a plow, a bed and a stove, would not today sell our
for four thousand dollars! Not an improved farm can be bought here
anywhere, a fact that proves that the people, even under the greatest
disadvantages of poverty and trials that attend every new settlement,
did accumulate wealth. Now that these early trials and difficulties are
over come, and having now the commercial facilities given us by the
various railroads that run through the county east and west, north and
south, this colony and county offers inducements to new settlers and
capitalists to invest their money, such as few counties east or west of
us cannot offer.
Amid all the disadvantages and trial of a poor people, this colony
has grown, advanced and improved in the nine years of its history to the
wonder of every one who comes here, whether to visit or make her his
home. Looking at the beautiful groves and improved farms that can be
seen in every direction, one can hardly believe that all this, nine
years ago, was one vast direction, one can hardly believe that all this,
nine years ago, was on vast prairie. I have again and again been forced
to ask myself "can it be possible that all this improvement has been
brought about in that many years?" Let a stranger come here and tell him
10 years age, as far as the eye can reach, not a tree could be seen nor
an acre of plowed land, nor a house anywhere. "Is it possible? Have
all these groves been planted in the past nine years, and are these
trees the growth of only nine years?" Only of nine years. "Have all
these improvements been made, in the past nine years, and that by a
people most of whom came penniless. "This is a grand, rich country."
The Rev. O. J. Squires, state agent for the American Bible Society, who
travels all over the state, when here this last May, said to the writer:
"You have here the best of Iowa. For beauty of location and richness of
soil, I know no place to equal this."
Whatever trials and privations the people have been obliged to
endure, they have always had enough to eat and to spare. In 1877, which
was a grasshopper year, 140,000 bushels of No. 1 were sold here at East
Orange, which was not more that half the number of bushels of wheat
raised in the colony, as those living in the south and southwest haul
their wheat to Seney and LeMars, and those living north go to Sheldon.
In that grasshopper year at least 280,000 bushels of wheat were raised
in this colony, and the amount of corn that was raised we will not
attempt to state, nor that of flax seed, rye and oats.
Last year was the worst of any since the settlement of the colony.
The wheat, not only here but nearly throughout the whole west, was
blighted by the copious rains that followed the intense heat so that it
was damaged for the market. Yet this "rejected" wheat made excellent
flour, so that there was an abundance of bread. Of course the farmer
having no wheat, or only a little for the market, was in great want of
money, but perhaps not more so here than people in other and even older
places.
This we wish to impress upon the mind of the reader, who perhaps has
heard of us, that under every trial and in the darkest days, even in
grasshopper years, this people have had bread in abundance and wheat to
sell. What would it have been if there had been no grasshoppers.
Sioux County Herald, June 26, 1879
By Rev. J. W. Warnshuis
THE GARDEN OF NORTHWESTERN IOWA
GRASSHOPPERS
Another great source of trial and troubles, and that at times tried
the courage of many, was the grasshopper plague, that and its first
appearance here in the summer of 1873.
Grasshoppers has been and still is with many the great scare crow
and bug bear that keeps many away from the northwest of Iowa. It is the
one and only argument that can be used against this country. And true
"no one who has not witnessed the ravaging power of this Rocky Mountain
grasshopper can fully conceive of or appreciate it. Its organization
and habit admirably fit it for ravenous work. Muscular, gregarious,
with powerful jaws and ample digestive and reproductive systems, strong
of wing and assisted in flight by numerous air-sacs that buoy-all these
traits conspire to make it the terrible engine of destruction.
Insignificantly individually but mighty collectively the grasshoppers
fall upon a country like a plague. Falling upon a cornfield they
convert in a few hours the green and promising acres into a desolate
stretch of bare, spindling stalks and stubs. They sweep clean a field
quicker that would a whole herd of hungry steers."
Admitting fully the destructive power of this insect and the
dreadful desolation it effected in '73-74' in the country west of the
Mississippi, yet people need not go or stay away from this country on
account of the grasshopper. The hessian fly, the wheat moth, the weevil
and the chinch bug are insects far more to be dreaded that the
grasshopper. The chinch bug is an annual and increasing trouble; the
grasshopper only a periodical one. Every objection on account of the
grasshoppers against northwestern Iowa is removed when the history and
habits of this insect are fully understood. The ravages committed by
the grasshoppers in '73 - '74 could not have been repeated had the
people known how to defend themselves and protect their crops. People
have been kept in ignorance about the grasshoppers. The local papers
did not dare to say a word about grasshoppers for fear it would keep
away emigration. Many today know not how to protect their crops against
the grasshoppers and how to destroy their eggs. The true way always is
not to conceal or by silence to ignore an evil, but to reveal it fully
and then point out the remedy.
The writer proposes to give a full and complete history of the Rocky
Mountain grasshopper and the remedies for destruction of the same. He
proposes to fully and completely remove the bug bear and scare crow from
the northwest. The facts that are given and the statements made in
regard to the history and habits of the grasshopper are taken from the
report of the United States Entomological Commission, to which the
writer adds his own observation and experience. Hence what is given is
not fancy and theory, but facts authenticated and that can be relied
upon.
It is perhaps generally known that the young grasshopper has no
wings and does not acquire wings until the latter part of June, some
six or eight weeks after they are hatched. While the destruction of the
winged grasshopper is often sudden and complete the little unfledged
grasshopper is still more effectual, though more slowly. They will
denude a country of vegetation as bare and desolate in midsummer as it
is in the Mississippi Valley in midwinter. The little creatures are
often so numerous, soon after hatching that they blacken everything.
WHERE THE EGGS ARE LAID - "The eggs are laid in newly broken sward, in
bare land, which is tolerable compact and not loose, and in road tracks.
As a rule, the soils and locations preferred by the female in
ovipositing will be those in which the young will most freely hatch,
namely, in compact knolls, with a south or southeast exposure. Old
plowed land is not liked for ovipositing it presents too loose a
surface. In abnormal or unhealthy conditions of the grasshopper the
eggs may be laid in exposed places, without any hole, in which case they
doubtless never give birth to young."
MANNER IN WHICH THE EGGS ARE LAID - "The female when about to lay
her eggs forces a hole in the ground. When the hole is drilled she
exudes from her body a frothy mucous matter which fills up the bottom of
the hole. She then deposits her eggs to the number from 20 to 35. The
mucous matter binds all the eggs in a mass the last is laid the mother
devotes some time to filling up the somewhat narrow neck of the burrow
with a compact and cellulose mass of the same material. When fresh the
mass is soft and moist, but it soon acquires a firm consistency and
forms a perfect protection and is water proof." It is for this reason
that the eggs are deposited in compact ground such as "new breaking" and
roadsides, in which a hole can be drilled which cannot be done in old
and loose land. "In loose and shifting soil the eggs would perish. The
egg mass seldom reaches more than an inch below the surface.
THE HATCHING PROCESS - "The outer covering of the egg mass is
easily ruptured and rendered all the more fragile by freezing: but the
inner covering is so tough that a very strong pressure between one's
thumb and finger is required to burst it. How then will the embryo,
which fills it so completely that there is scarcely room for motion,
succeed in escaping from such a prison? The rigid bird's egg is easily
cracked by the beak of its tenant. But our young grasshopper is
deprived of all such contrivance, and must have another mode of exit
from its tough and sub-elastic prison. By the muscular efforts of the
nascent locust against the sides of the hole it crowds its way out.
From this account of the hatching process we can easily understand why
the female is ovipositing prefers compact, hard soil to that which is
loose. The harder and less yielding the walls of the hole the easier
the young crows its way out. In loose soil the young fail to make their
escape and generally perish at birth."
From these facts it will be seen that in a country where the land is
under cultivation there the grasshoppers do not deposit eggs,
therefore, in such a country there are no grasshoppers, at least of any
account. History proves this fact. Time has been when the grasshoppers
were feared in Illinois. But as emigration moved westward and the land
became cultivated the grasshoppers disappeared, so that today they are
not found 50 miles east of us. They are only found in new breaking for
the reason given. When there is no breaking there is no ovipositing and
hence no grasshoppers. This a conclusion based upon fact which are
proven by history.
This settles effectively the grasshopper question. When these
prairies are once under cultivation there will be no more grasshoppers
to do any damage. We are now already on the eastern line of the
temporary region of the grasshoppers. Five miles from us they are not
found any more. Therefore the grasshoppers need not deter any from
settling in Sioux County nor need give any apprehension in the minds of
those who have already made their homes here.
HABITS OF THE YOUNG, ORUNFLEDGED GRASSHOPPERS - "The habits of the
young insects as they occur in the temporary region are as follows:
Although possessed of remarkably active power from the moment they leave
the egg, yet so long as provision suffices from them on their hatching
grounds the young remain almost stationary and create but little
apprehension. As soon, however, as the supply of food in these
situations is exhausted they commence to migrate in a body devouring all
grain and garden produce in their path. While young and yet small, or
in the first, second and third stages, they hide at night, and during
unfavorable weather at day also. When very vigorous and numerous they
gradually move across a field of small grain and cut it off clean to the
ground as they go. When the weather is cold and wet, that is beneficial
to the grain and prejudicial to the hoppers as the grain grows so rank
and rapidly that they can make little impression upon it."
It is when they are abundant and vigorous enough to bare the ground,
and do so principally after they are half grown, that the habit of
migrating in large bodies is developed. The power for injury increases
with growth. At first devouring the vegetation. In particular fields
in the vicinity of their birthplaces, they gradually widen the arch of
their devastation. When they have devastated a country, they are forced
to feed upon one another and perish in immense numbers from debility and
starvation. This increase in death continues until they have undergone
their larval molts and attained the pupa state. From this time on they
begin to decrease in numbers. They die rapidly from disease and from
the attacks of natural enemies, while a large number fall to pray.
Those that acquire wings rise in the air during the warmer parts of the
day and wend their way so far as the wind will permit them from their
native home in the northwest. They mostly carry with them the germs of
disease or are parasitized, and wherever they settle do comparatively
little damage.
REMEDIES AND DEVICES FOR DESTRUCTION - "The means to be employed for
the destruction of this pest are, first: DESTRUCTION OF THE EGGS. This
can be done by harrowing and plowing.
1. Harrowing in the autumn. "The breaking up of the egg-mass and
exposure of the individual eggs to the desicating effects of the
atmosphere effectively destroys them. We hence see at once the
importance of this mode of coping with this evil. Harrowing in the
autumn and in early winter will prove one of the most effectual means of
destroying the eggs and preventing future injury. The object should be
to pulverize the soil, as much as possible, to the depth of about an
inch. Where a cultivator is used, it would be well to pass over the
ground again with a drag or brush harrow." From the mode of hatching
and from the manner in which the eggs are laid, given above, it will be
seen, that "every egg-mass that is broken or brought to the top is used
up and will not hatch." The harrowing should be done most thoroughly.
A farmer living three miles north from East Orange had a piece of new
breaking last fall, which he harrowed again and again. This spring he
sowed it with wheat, first using a seeder, sowing one bushel to the
acre, then he went over it again with the seeder, sowing one half bushel
to acre, then the harrow was put on with which he went over it several
times. The result now stands that the wheat is good, and no 'hoppers'.
This shows the benefit of thorough harrowing, both in autumn and in the
spring. By a few days of extra work on new breaking the eggs can be
destroyed. The roads and all uncultivated places should be harrowed
thoroughly in autumn. It ought to be enforced by law.
2. "Plowing - next to harrowing is another mode of destroying
grasshopper eggs." The plowing should be about six inches deep, and
then dragged and rolled. "A plowing in the spring of four or six inches
deep will prove more effectual, if the ground be subsequently HARROWED
and ROLLED, for if the eggs do hatch, the young will not be able to
reach the surface.
DESTRUCTION OF THE YOUNG GRASSHOPPERS - "It is with some degree of
pride that we can point to the fact that this part of the locust
question is solved," is the language of the United States Entomological
Commissioner. "The experience of 1877 had firmly established the fact
that with proper means, effort and cooperation the farmer can
successfully cope with the grasshoppers, that he can with less labor and
expense protect his crops against the 'hoppers than against weeds.
Farmers themselves have been surprised at what can be done by well
directed, intelligent effort. It was the almost universal testimony
that there need be, in the future, no serious fear of the young
grasshopper, especially where effort had been made to destroy the eggs
as has been indicated. The means used to destroy young grasshoppers is:
1. - BURNING. This method can easily be brought into operation in
prairie and wheat growing regions. In such regions there is an
abundance of straw and hay, which may be scattered over or around the
field in bunches or windrows, and into which the little hoppers can be
driven and burned. During cold or damp weather they congregate of
themselves, without being under such shelter and they can then be
destroyed by burning without the necessity of drying. We have said that
it is the habit of the young grasshopper to seek shelter by night.
Scatter over the field little heaps of straw, also in windrows, and in
this the insects will seek shelter at night and can easily be destroyed
by burning. Much has been said against burning the prairie in the fall
and early spring. It should be forbidden by stringent law. If the
burning of the prairie was postponed until the bulk of the grasshoppers
have hatched, then all those that have gone onto the prairie for shelter
and those along the cultivated fields and along the roadsides could be
destroyed by prairie fires. If a farmer's crop is destroyed by little
hoppers, it is his own fault. He can with less labor and expense
destroy the grasshoppers than he can weeds in his field. Save your
straw to kill 'hoppers'!
To destroy grasshoppers in the garden the following method can be
employed: Take a long wire or iron, say about 40 feet long, to this rod
or wire tie a bundle of rags or tow and then soak the rags thoroughly in
coal. A small wire is wound around the rags to keep them in place, and
a rope is attached to the long rod. Let two men carry this rope, after
setting fire to the rags, to and froth across the garden until the fuel
is exhausted. Even a large field of grain can be saved this way. The
effect is that of a miniature prairie fire. Or dig a ditch around the
garden and it is safe.