INSECT PLAGUE

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 80, 28 December 1937, Page 7

INSECT PLAGUE

i Our Own Correspondent.)

Grasshopper Swarms in Victoria 4 CARS SKID ON ROADS I

(From

MELBOUENE, Dec. 16. Swarms of grasshoppers, flying low, are gradually extending southward from the north-eastern corner of'Victoria. They liave already done much damage in the Albury district, and are still crossing the Murray from New South Wales. All cars in the Albury district have their radiators protected with netting or muslin. The insects, which swept over the town in clouds yesterday, caused cars to skid on the roads. Eight'een greens on the Albury golf links have been ruined. The grasshoppers ate every piece of grass, including creeping bent, and left the greens as bare as earth. The damage will cost £100 to repair. The croquet green was also eaten away, and 24 lawn tennis courts were left with bare patehes. Tennis players yesterday found that with every swing of the lacquot they killed six or seven grasshoppers. Many private lawns and gardens have been attacked, but the insects have not yet visited the public gardens. The caretaker of the golf links said to-day that countless millions of tho grasshoppers were "still with him." They were not flying becauso of the dull weather. It seem3.1 -a hopeless job to try aucl kill them off. At Lavington, three miles from Albury, many ti mato plants have been ruined. An officer of the Albury Pasture Protection Board reported to-day that summer crops of millet had been affected. The grasshoppers were laying their eggs for the second batching, and the new brcoas would he out shortly. Eeports from various pavts of the district indicated that sorao had already hatched. "The grasshoppers are still thick in the town to-day, and they are flying in clouds over the river into Victoria/ ' he said. "I have not seen them so bad in Albury for many years." Wodonga, on the Victuiian side of the river reports that the grasshoppers were out in millions yesterday in several parts of the district. They were working south in narrow sirips. The Government Entomologist, Mr Pescott, is tlill in the country making a personal survey of the districts threatened.