The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, August 25, 1901, Page 2

THE SUNDAY CALL. JIGHTING [ho ‘Y/EJTLP%( (i t overnmen | ON NE |4 LINEJ‘ ?finoculate him wi O Dutiing up tubes N of Srasshopper ousedsc fungus) grasshoppers thwest ERE IS a plague of T e West and S s are mu ling reports on t 1 from New Mex nd Neb; b rn Texas seems to be w ere else. One correspond, tion is from recently, vast armies of grass literally wiped out by it propagated artificially by apply of rilized preparatio rum, on idly. Thus sent out in glass tub to a ot which the prepared, and biood mu corked with nt cotton and sealed with red wax, each one being enclosed in a pasteboard cylinder. Directions for mse accom the package > among i ad in- n and tures.” A e bodies reqt been dis have portion of germ material. They will quickly become infected, when he may lib- erate al] but half a dozen or so. These Mwhen dead. will serve to commu- nicate the disease to other living gr: hoppers placed in the box for that pur- pose. The box should be covered with Ats to admit air, and lsome grass should be growth of t infected the put in also, dampne ZUs »pper encouraging the As fast as they a ' are set’ free in t fields to distribute the plague among their fellows. The grasshopper is one of the most s, ous problem ered by the in the est. Owing to the settlement gres reas which former! manent breeding grounds - rops producing reg- of the voracious s every year, t et no longer s in th devastating swarm 1 ur everything green. But even nowa- doys n season p ) do not appear f rming num- +is in some parts of the country, de- stroying the crops and bringing great loss, or even ruin, ri to the helpless agricultu- In former times the grasshoppers some- times appeared in swarms muititudinous almost heyond bellef. Twenty-six years ago the Big and Little Blue Rivers. tribu- taries pf the Migsouri, were crossed at numerous places by vast bodics of the in- sects, which would proceed to the water's edge and begin jumping in, one upon an- other, until they actually pontooned the stream. Two of these hosts chanced to meet, moving eastward and the one on a river bluff in the G both turning their cor down- ward from rpendicular cliff thirty feet ssed over it in a with high, they p seven Inches thick 1eet like tha 4 ‘cataract of ed on re ithority th ers have be en to swim ov ter River Europe, for a of one and a arter miles, in a more than a foot thick Nothing short of will check the Earge.sb known Species of -Actusl s1ze of 7rtnidad Crashonper JtZs natzve progress of a7 army of grasshoppers on the march. Y ater, unless in wide rivers, is nogbar to their progress. Before their advance the unfortunate farmers are well nigh helpless. The plague arrives, and lo! as if by magic, the crops are swept from the face of the earth, As for the ““hoppers8? they sow their own p, planting in one season the eggs h are to be hatched in the next. The drills a hole in the ground with ny tip of her domen, and in this # about twenty eggs, whi are bound together in a mass with mucus ex- creted by the mother insect. The burro is ed up with mucus, which makes it watertight. Now the farmer's best chance is to de- the unhatched egg and this he tries to do in various wa the most ef- fective perhaps being tor slice off an inch of the top sofl, dry it and pass it through i >s to separate the egg masses, which burled in deep pits. In the wheat growing regions burning machines, which open grates on runners, filled with er wh temale stroy ASSHOPPE. ropoJse.s with wings Pec2es of the Wesicr, Gt Shates hop are drawn by horses across the flelds. Another method con- sists in digging pits, into which the swarms are driven, with the help of wide- spread wings of canvas stretched on stieks. The eggs are enveloped In tough little capsuies, not .easily broken by pressurs between thumb and finger, but when ready to hatch the coat of the ovum is dissolved and releases the insect. When new horn the young grasshopper is cov- ered with a sort of veil, which presently splits along the back and is kicked off be- hind. So long as there is plenty of food in the neighborhood he does not move about much, but when the available pro- vender is exhausted he starts out to look lighted pitchpine, for another spot. It is in ¢ that the great migra- tions are army of grasshoppers on the h being often as much as a cover the ground dense- go all grass, grain and garden tru Sometimes two such armies cross each other, but each keeps right along in its own course. mile wid [hey ly, devouring It is when grz ppers develop their wings that ly b rapid in thelr movemer ne specles of them are mu better flyers than others, whi cert: kinds have onfy rudimeatary wings,-and so cannot fly at all. Immense clouds of the insects sometimes »: over the plains and thinly settled regions of 1.Q D GG(“V Disease orn FIo to A beautiful Srasshopper colore 23 the Northwest, traveling at a rate 300 miles a day, the wind being fav Some grasshoppers are among beautiful insects in t resembling in beauty and d. the petals of flowers—pin and otherwise tinted, with tions. There are some of huge size, which have & spread of nine inches or more from wing tip to wing tip. Anybody who will ine a grasshopper cannot fail to ad the beauty of its constru and pa ularly of the armor in which it I3 c though it is a_peaceable creature a no means inclined to com In China grasshoppers plague at times, and occa ernment orders out t the invaders. Each soldi of a gun, a coarse hem to a bamboo pole, W e worlc many var mouth, is used as a net bounty is also paid to farmers dead ins: 40 cash per the eggs they colle fective destroyers driven the numbe: selves greedily In that o widespread b king grasshopp who hovers of the air, Sacrifices him to spare which his petitioners dev The Eirst of HIS is the first of a series of six T articles on whist to be published, one each week, in The Sunday Cell. These papers have been epecial- ly written for The Call by Mrs. Adolph Hess, a member of the San Franecisco Whist Club, and one of the most experienced players in this city. Mrs. Hess has purposely kept her writing free from technical expres- sions, except those absolutely neces- sary to a complete understanding of this delightful game and its scientitic points. Her articles, therefore, will be highly beneficial to those begin- ners who wish to play a good game of whist. OTWITHSTANDING the numer- ous gpories publishzd the now almost umivers: actice of the 1ce of whist as a science a is a fact s do not know the of it may be termed, the his almost atord, is a good one in all other arts and r mak- e numbers of ther preparation than eneral maxims by ding tly ght in their nt of compreh conseque ners it is absolutely necessary sradually, and before sitting at they should ke asters of the leads, at least, end L sous for them. When they feel that they kave acquired so int e theory let them begin to redt it ce, with the strongest whist play to P never read can meet with. Beginning “weak” players who anything about the game wi prevent fmprovement. ‘When a student of the game learns the Jead the fol , ma ement of trumps, sec d and fourth hand play, the signal for trumps, the echo, unblocking, the echo, discarding, forcing, finess- ing, underplaying, leading through the strong hand, leading up to weakness, throwing the lead, counting the hands, changing suits, the laws of whist, penal- ties and departing from rule he is in a fair way to become a good player from practice, . nt year in Colo- hile the disea-e g tried in Texx of the ber « pr toge a Series of Whist, besis being a pastime, tends to increase social intercourse and is some- thing more. It brings into action facul- ties of observation, judgment and knowl- edge It can be played by character people of s ed age when more active If whist were only a mere pastime it never would occupy the place it now holds or would never be reckoned among the science by such inrelligent men and women as it now i We will endeavor to take up each part of the game and explain it in a manner to make it understcod to the beginnes based upon the tem of leads known as Americ for which we are indebt- ed to the literature of tne game and some onsider that a yery good memory is necessary in order to play whist well. Poor memory is really lack of ob- servation. Yeu must observe every card oth mu not blame your memor Do not study vour hand while playir ange it in the order of play, keeping the trumps alw in the same place, and you will never be at a loss to’ know t the trumps are. After vou have arranged your cards in their order and have taken note of their strength or weakness, watch each card & it fall nts’ and partner's hand and draw your inferences then to be used later in the game. from your oppo; Having set rules for leads, ete., is for the purpose of imparting information to your partner as to the strength or:weak- ness of your hand to enable both players to combine forces and thereby play twen- ty-six cards i ad of thirteen. The orig- inal leader i plaver after the cards have bee It, and although the leads apply to all the first leads it does not bear the same ponsibility. The ad- vantage of the original lead is that you can develop the g in any direction you choose. 8o being the original leader are responsible for the play that fol- Therefore it behooves you to choose a card that will tell your partner the chief component of your hand. 1 de me y lows . All strong whist players open from their longest and strongest suits. Experience has demonstrated that this is usually best. The card to lead is the one that will at once afford the most information. It follows if partners adopt the same sys- tem they are enabled to combine their forces and really play a partnership game. The American leads are now adopted by the best players all over the world. Stu- dents should make themselves so familiar with this rule so as to know at a glance what to lead. Xach of the following “high cards"—ace, kirg, queen, knave, ten and nine, with the exceptions of the ten and nine—are led from two combina- tions only (the ten from one and the nine from three), the other cards being termed “low cards,” and from all other combina- tions they are led as fourth pest cards. The combinations of bigh cards are as follows: The ace ig led from two combi- nations—ace and any four other eards or more which do not include both king and queen. Ace, queen, knave and any one or more, The ace marks five in suit or more, or when led from the second combination may have only four in suit. The king is led from two combinations and mark suit of exaetly four cards— ace, kgng and any two; king, queen and any two. The queen'is led from two combinations and marks five or more In suit—ace, king, queen and any two or more in which the knave is not included; king, queen and any three or more in which the knave is not included. The knave is led from twe combina- tions and marks five or more In suit, Ace, or mor or more. The ten led from one combination orly and marks five or more in suit. Queen, knave, ten and any one or more, including the nine, as a small card, The 1 led from three combinations and xactly four in suit in two combinations—ace, queen, ten, nine; ace, knave, ten, nine; king, knave, ten, nine and one or more small. It must be understood that the leads are for plain suits only. Trumps are not led the same originally, unless you hold three honors with one, two or three more small, with five trumps, headed by the ace, the rest smaller than the ‘queen; the lead here would be the fourth best. 1f, however, you have seven trumps, ace at the top, lead out the ace, as the chances are in favor of bringing down an honor on the first round. Never lead a singleton as an original lead. If you have a weak suit of trumps and think to ruff the suit on the second round, your opponents, if strong players, will detect your intention and if they take the trick will lead out your trumps. Had you waited until some one else led that suit your poverty in it would not have been known on the first round and your chances would be much better of obtain- ing the ruff. Had you led the singleton, besides telling vour partner a ‘“‘whist falsehood” you might have “killed” a good card in his hand. Your lead said to partner in the conversation of the cards, [his is my best suit.” The next lesson will take up the lead of the fourth best. king, queen, knave and any one king, queen, knave and any two is hows e Articles That Will Teach You o Play a ‘Rooms of the San Francisco &Whist Club, ) Eood Game OF Whist