EXTRAORDINARY SCENES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 302, 23 December 1907, Page 4

EXTRAORDINARY SCENES.

BILLIONS OF (JRASSIIOI'PERS. BACES BETWEEN AND INSECTS. Extraordinary scenes arc reported from the district* iu Nov Mouth Wales that have lieen ravished liy grasshoppers. In one district, Trangie, whole farms have lieen devastated. The pests assembled in dense masses, alighted on the crops, and practically destroyed them in 48 hours. For miles around the country appeared to be mantled in a haze. Upon close approach the haze resolved itself into countless millions of grasshoppers, organised into irresistible predatory forces. They swept along in impenetrable clouds., defied all efforts to keep them out of doors, and took absolute possession in t he field. All the farmer could do was to race the insects for his crop. This course was given practical effect to everywhere in the disturbed areaj 'Binders and reapers were manipulated at highest pressure, to save more of the crops than the grasshoppers could eat. The task was a heartrending one, and in many instances the grasshoppers won. The pest was maliciously active in the town of Narroniinc. The grasshoppers swept down like dark clouds. Gardens were stripped of leaves and flowers. Dwellings were besciged. Swarm after swarm descended in endless monotony. Millions became billions, and the billions multiplied again. - The sound of the insects beating against the roofs resembled hail. Doors and windows were bolted against them, but not before thousands gained admittance. The pest set to work at once on curtains, bed-hangings, and other draperies. To give an idea of the destructive instincts of the pest, the experience of two ladies in the district may be described. After an exciting battle, in which they drove large numbers out of doors, they sat down to refresh themselves with tea. They discovered upon rising that the grasshoppers had taken advantage of the cessation of hostilities to refresh themselves too. The skirt of each lady was foun* to be so riddled with holes as to resemble a crude sort of lace.

The sun sent down fierce rays, which burnt the face to smarting point, and the grasshoppers beat upon the travellers along the country in increasing numbers. Upon reaching the farm of Mr. Louker, the pest was seen to be at work in billions. It covered the entire area of 4UO acres of wheat in a vast cloud, and as people walked-through the crop, the grasshoppers feeding on the ground rose up in whirring thousands at every step. The farmer had pressed into service every available implement and every available man to fight for his crop. The contest seemed to be an unequal one, and a glance round showed that the wheats had lieen considerably thinned, and in some parts destroyed. The sight was pitiful. On the one baud the drought had permitted only an apology for a crop, and on the otlier the grasshoppers were disputing the ownership of it. This scene, it is stated, is .simply typical of others that have been ■enacted in infested districts. 'Tim can keep down rabbits with poison." the farmers jay. ,; but a plague of grasshoppers will ruin a poor man in one night."' The nest has been a great treat in the poultry yards. The domestic fowl has gorged his fill, and insectivorous birds in the wild can cat no more.The only casualties reported in the poultry yards are the deaths of young turkeys, which seem to be unable to digest the diet so generously provided.