When ’hopper clouds' filled the skies

 It’s been another bad year for grasshoppers in many parts of the Prairies.

Some farmers have told us that whatever crop managed to grow in this summer’s drought was eaten by the voracious insects.

The problem isn’t new, of course.

Histories of the early days of farming on the prairie, particularly in the United States in the mid-19th century, are replete with hair-raising stories of grasshopper scourges.

In fact, some of the stories are so far removed from modern encounters with grasshoppers that it’s hard to believe they are true.